Experimental research on hysteretic behaviors of corroded reinforced concrete columns with different maximum amounts of corrosion of rebar

The reinforced concrete (RC) columns infiltrated by chloride ion in marine environment are much vulnerable under seismic loading. In this paper, the hysteretic behaviors of corroded RC columns were studied, which were considered as the condition of tide region or splash zone. Experiments were designed for five groups of corroded RC columns with different maximum amounts of corrosion of rebar under cyclic lateral loads combined with a constant vertical load. The traditional soaking method was replaced by a new wrapping method in order to obtain the desired amount of corrosion of rebar that was similar with the environment condition. The results showed that the flexural strength, the circular stiffness, the ductility, and the energy absorption of corroded RC column degraded with the increase of the maximum amount of corrosion of rebar. The maximum amount of corrosion of 13.25% and the dilation crack width of 1.2 mm were two important critical parameters.