Modeling Formation of Cracks in Concrete Cover due to Reinforcement Corrosion

Abstract

An electrochemical and mechanical modeling approach to simulate formation of corrosion induced cracks in reinforced concrete structures is presented. The electrochemical model allows simulation of the propagation of macro cell corrosion in a homogeneous defect-free concrete-steel system. To simulate cracking a finite element based crack propagation model is proposed. To demonstrate the potential use of the combined modeling approach a numerical example is provided where the influence of various exposure conditions on the corrosion current density and subsequent formation of cracks is illustrated.