Bond and Corrosion: Experimental Studies

Bond between steel and concrete plays an important role in the structural behaviour of reinforced concrete structures. In the present paper, bond tests on r.c. specimens in presence of corrosion are performed in order to evaluate the effect of corrosion on bond mechanism. The results of the tests on concrete specimens with RILEM type shape, reinforced with ribbed steel bars of 12 and 16 mm of diameter, with and without confinement, in presence of an increasing level of corrosion up to 20%, are presented. An electrochemical procedure using a current density of 200 µA/cm2 is employed to produce corrosion. The test results show the effect of oxidation of the reinforcement at the interface with concrete and consequent surface cracking, the change of performance in terms of bond and the change of failure mechanism.