PROBABILITY OF CORROSION INDUCED CRACKING IN REINFORCED-CONCRETE

A probabilistic approach to corrosion induced cracking in reinforced c oncrete was investigated. Hydraulic pressurization at the reinforcemen t/concrete interface was used to simulate corrosion of reinforcement a nd cause fracture. The failure pressure data was analysed statisticall y and found to have right hand skew. Correlation between failure press ure and visual observations of fracture surfaces suggested a possible change in failure mechanism depending on the presence of voids near th e reinforcement. The failure pressure distributions were analysed to d etermine whether Weibull statistics could provide an adequate descript ion. The effects of variables such as toughness, flaw size, corrosion products and corrosion rate on the shape of failure probability-time r elationships were predicted.