Reinforced concrete structures are widely used in construction due to their strength and durability. However, in corrosive environments, corrosion-induced degradation can reduce the cross- sectional area and strength of the reinforcement, ultimately resulting in structural failure. Corro- sion pits in…
Reinforced concrete structures are widely used in construction due to their strength and durability. However, in corrosive environments, corrosion-induced degradation can reduce the cross- sectional area and strength of the reinforcement, ultimately resulting in structural failure. Corro- sion pits in the reinforcement bar can act as stress amplifiers, causing localised stress concentration, thereby initiating the growth of fatigue cracks when subjected to cyclic loading. The Paris law is widely used to model fatigue crack propagation in metallic materials. It relates the crack growth rate under cyclic loading to the stress intensity factor range through the material constants C and m. The fatigue crack growth rate is typically divided into three stages, where the Paris law is valid in the second stage. In this work, stage-I and stage-II are modelled using a linear and power law (Paris law) relationship respectively. Existing studies have shown that the commonly accepted value of the Paris law constants significantly underestimates the fatigue life of reinforced concrete structures in corrosive environments. In this study, the crack growth coefficients for both stage-I and stage-II are ascertained in an inert environment and a corrosive medium under varying stress ratios. An empirical relationship between the constants for inert and corrosive environments is obtained. Thus knowing the crack growth constants of the material in air, fatigue crack growth rate in corrosive environments can be predicted.