Abstract
An assessment of deteriorative effects on reinforced concrete structures is presented focusing mainly on the propagation of the reinforcement corrosion stage. It necessitates the utilization of relevant models and advanced simulation techniques to enable the probabilistic analysis of concrete structures and service life prognosis. Several analytical models for the initiation of concrete cracking, for crack width and for a decrease in the effective reinforcement cross-section are briefly presented. The described approach is applied to some illustrative examples showing the feasibility of predicting the development of reinforcement corrosion and its effect on the service life and/or reliability of the structure. The authors believe that such methodology supports the optimisation of design strategies as well as effective decision-making processes.
