Modeling the impact of corrosion rate of stirrups on seismic performance of reinforced concrete columns

It is essential to properly understand the seismic behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) columns confined by stirrups that experience different corrosion rates. The current study investigated the effect of seismic performance indicators such as strength loss, energy dissipation rate, ductility and hysteresis damping on specimens and models for different stirrup corrosion rates. Analysis revealed the adverse effects of corrosion on the bond performance between the concrete and steel bars which affected the seismic performance of the columns. It was found that with increasing corrosion rate, ductility and energy dissipation of the specimens decreased. Compared with the uncorroded specimen, the ductility factor and energy dissipation decreased observably, by 22.89% and 60.64%, respectively. An attenuation relationship is proposed for the corrosion rate of the stirrups for different stirrup yield strengths, concrete compressive strengths, concrete covers and stirrup spacing.