Sensitivity analysis of flexural strength of RC beams influenced by reinforcement corrosion

The corrosion of reinforcement leads to a gradual decay of structural strength and durability. Several models for crack occurrence prediction and crack width propagation are investigated in this paper. Analytical and experimental models were used to predict the bond strength in the period of corrosion propagation. The manner of flexural strength loss is calculated by application of these models for different scenarios. As a new approach, the variation of the concrete beam neutral axis height has been evaluated, which shows a reduction in the neutral axis height for the scenarios without loss of bond. Alternatively, an increase of the neutral axis height was observed for the scenarios including bond and concrete section loss. The statistical properties of the parameters influencing the strength have been deliberated associated with obtaining the time-dependent bending strength during corrosion propagation, using Monte Carlo (MC) random sampling method. Results showed that the ultimate strain in concrete decreases significantly as a consequence of the bond strength reduction during the corrosion process, when the section reaches to its final limit. Therefore, such sections are likely to show brittle behavior.