Performance of reinforced concrete beams corroded under sustained service loads: A comparative study of two accelerated corrosion techniques

In this work, the performance of reinforced concrete (RC) beams corroded under various levels of sustained flexural loads was evaluated. A comparison was made regarding the effect of different accelerated corrosion techniques, i.e., galvanic method and artificial climate exposure method, on the corrosion characteristics and structural performance of loaded RC beams. The results show that, regardless of sustained loading, a unique strong linear relationship can be established between the average mass loss of corroded rebar and the maximum corrosion-induced crack width, for both accelerated corrosion techniques. The application of flexural loads during corrosion exacerbates the corrosion in the pure flexural zone and enlarges the spatial variation of corrosion levels in RC beams. However, neither the average mass loss ratio of corroded rebar nor the crack widths can be a reliable way to estimate the residual capacity of the beams.