Abstract
Reinforcing bar corrosion induces splitting cracks in concrete along the bar axis and leads to bond deterioration. This can adversely affect the crack spacing in an RC member and have a serious effect on its serviceability. This study looks at axial nonlinearity in corroded RC members under tension and shows that fewer transverse cracks with greater spacing occur as steel corrosion progresses. The open-slip coupled model, which takes into account the transverse action associated with longitudinal bond stress transfer in the bond transition zone, is extended to cover corroded reinforcement and is successfully used to simulate the behavior of RC members in tension. Modeling of the bond transition zone and of the layer of corrosion products is found to be crucial to understanding residual bond performance after corrosion has occurred.
