PROBABILITY OF CORROSION INDUCED CRACKING IN REINFORCED-CONCRETE

A probabilistic approach to corrosion induced cracking in reinforced concrete was investigated. Hydraulic pressurization at the reinforcement/concrete interface was used to simulate corrosion of reinforcement and cause fracture. The failure pressure data was analysed statistically and found to have right hand skew. Correlation between failure pressure and visual observations of fracture surfaces suggested a possible change in failure mechanism depending on the presence of voids near the reinforcement. The failure pressure distributions were analysed to determine whether Weibull statistics could provide an adequate description. The effects of variables such as toughness, flaw size, corrosion products and corrosion rate on the shape of failure probability-time relationships were predicted.