Bond strength of hot-dip galvanized reinforcement in normal strength concrete structures

Hot-dip galvanizing is one of the methods used to solve the problem of corrosion of reinforcement in concrete structures. The few research reported in the literature on the effect of galvanizing on bond strength of reinforcing bars anchored in pullout specimens, indicates contradictory results. The primary objective of this paper is to evaluate experimentally the effect of hot dip galvanizing on the bond capacity of tension lap splices. The test results may have an implication on the development length and splice length design provisions of galvanized bars in building design codes. To achieve the objective, six concrete beam specimens were tested in positive bending. For each of three bar sizes 20, 25, and 32 mm, two companion beams identical except for whether the bars were black or galvanized, were tested. Each beam was designed with bars spliced at midspan in a constant moment region. The nominal concrete strength was 28 MPa. The mode of failure was splitting of the concrete cover in the splice region. The test results indicated that the use of galvanized bars has a negligible negative effect on bond strength of reinforcement in normal strength concrete.