Rotation capacity of corroded RC beams with special ductility tempcore rebars

Abstract

The corrosion of reinforced concrete structures influences not only their structural strength but also their ductility. In this scenario, the use of Special Ductility Tempcore rebars, which belong to the highest ductility class, can reduce the risk of having a brittle failure when corrosion occurs. Therefore, this paper presents experimental and numerical studies to evaluate the rotation capacity of corroded RC beams with this type of steel. The experimental part consists of testing five beams to rupture and the numerical part uses the non-linear finite element method to correctly model the beam’s behaviour. The results indicate that for 20% damage, the rotation capacity reduced about 50%; however, these values are still higher than the Eurocode 2 normalized curve. In this scenario, the ultimate load only reduces 12%. Nevertheless, corrosion affects the ultimate deflection of isostatic beams much more than hyperstatic beams.