Tensile and fatigue behavior of corroded rebars

This paper presents the results of an experimental study on the static tensile and fatigue behavior of corroded reinforcing steel bars. Both natural carbonation-induced and artificially accelerated corrosion were considered. The tensile test results indicated significant degradation in deformability and strength of corroded rebars and the ultimate tensile strength was more affected than the yielding strength. The fatigue test results indicated that the fatigue life of corroded rebars decreased significantly with increases of corrosion and stress range. Compared with the tensile behavior, the fatigue behavior of corroded rebars was more affected by corrosion. It was also found that tensile and fatigue properties of artificially corroded rebars were less affected by corrosion than those of naturally corroded rebars. An equivalent cross-sectional area was established to quantify the influence of corrosion, and the fatigue life of corroded rebars under combined effects of corrosion and stress range was predicted.

► We tested corroded rebars produced from natural and accelerated processes.
► We tested corroded rebars with tensile and fatigue loading.
► We analyzed the influence of corrosion degree and stress range.
► We proposed a concept of equivalent cross-sectional area and a calculation formula.