Construction and Building

Construction and Building Materials 21 (2007) 855864

MATERIALS
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Tensile and low cycle fatigue behavior of corroded reinforcing steel bars S400
C.A. Apostolopoulos *, M.P. Papadopoulos
Laboratory of Technology and Strength of Materials, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, University of Patras, Panepistimioupolis Rion, 26 500 Patras, Greece Received 28 July 2005; received in revised form 28 November 2005; accepted 10 December 2005 Available online 20 February 2006

Abstract The results of an experimental study for assessing the degradation of the tensile properties of reinforcing steel bars grade S400 caused by accelerated laboratory salt spray are presented. Furthermore, low cycle fatigue tests, which simulate earthquake loading conditions, have been carried out on uncorroded (reference) material as well as pre-corroded steel bars and the results are presented and commented upon. The results of the tensile tests have shown an appreciable property degradation with advancing corrosion. The low cycle fatigue resistance of the steel bars was found to be closely dependent upon the level of corrosion. Furthermore, the tests indicate that the material degradation may be more severe than thought when taking mass loss as a measure of corrosion damage. 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Steel bars S400; Salt spray corrosion; Corrosion damage; Tensile property degradation; Low cycle fatigue

1. Introduction From the early sixties and for 30 or more years, S400 grade steel (according to ELOT 959 [1]) was used as reinforcement in reinforced concrete structures. This steel grade is the Hellenic standards equivalent to BSt 420s grade steel according to the DIN 488 [2]. Since the early nineties, S400 grade steel has been replaced by BSt 500s grade steel. Most of the structures utilizing steel grade S400 as reinforcement are still in use either as homes, places of large gatherings (stadiums, churches, schools etc.), parts of road networks and so on. During the prolonged service time of these structures, damage has accumulated on their load bearing elements, mainly caused by corrosion as well as random (earthquake) loading. Recent reports [3,4] indicate that large amounts of money are spent every year for the rehabilitation of such structures.

Corresponding author. Tel.: +30 2610 991027; fax: +30 2610 422090/ 997190. E-mail address: charrisa@mech.upatras.gr (C.A. Apostolopoulos). 0950-0618/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2005.12.012

Greece is a country with a long coastline and many major cities built on coastal areas. This causes extensive corrosion of the steel reinforcement of buildings due to the large chloride concentrations in the atmosphere. Furthermore, it is the foremost seismic country in Europe and the sixth most seismic country worldwide. Since 1960, when all constructions began utilizing reinforced concrete as the load bearing structure, many earthquakes have occurred in Greece such as the major earthquake of Athens in 1999 (5.9 on the Richter scale), Aigio in 1995 (6.1 on the Richter scale), Thessaloniki in 1978 (6.5 on the Richter scale) and many more, which led to numerous casualties caused by collapsed buildings. Earthquakes cause stress events on the reinforcing steel in the region of low cycle fatigue. This has been conrmed by Sheng and Gong [5]. They investigated seismic ruins of Tangshan (China) and conrmed that the failure model of building structural steels under earthquake loading is low cycle fatigue. Although in recent years, the problem of the actual residual strength degradation of aging reinforced concrete structures has attracted considerable attention, it is far

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from being fully understood and even less resolved. The degradation problem becomes even more complex when there is a combined degradation caused by corrosion as well as seismic loadings. In recent years, the corrosion of the reinforcing bars in concrete has been a very important cause of early deterioration and failure of concrete structures [611]. Furthermore, corrosion degrades most of the mechanical properties of the reinforcing steel [12,13]. It is worth noting that up to now, little work has been done to account for the eects of corrosion on the mechanical properties of the reinforcing steel bars and hence on the degradation of the load bearing ability of reinforced concrete elements [14]. Such eects are the reduction of the eective cross-section of the reinforcing steel, micro and macro cracking of concrete and nally the spalling of the concrete. The underestimation of the corrosion problem arises from the fact that under normal circumstances, concrete provides protection to the reinforcing steel. Physical protection of the reinforcing steel against corrosion is provided by the dense and relatively impermeable concrete cover. Chemical protection is provided by the high alkalinity of the pore solution. Calcium, as well as potassium and sodium to a smaller extent, contribute to the high alkalinity (pH > 13.5) of the pore solution. At this high pH, steel is passivated due to the formation of a sub-microscopically thin c-Fe2O3 lm according to [15,16]. Hime and Erlin [17] suggested a dierent composition of the passivating lm on the reinforcing steel surface. Page [18] suggested that reinforcing steel is protected by a lime-rich layer on the steelconcrete interface, which was conrmed by Leek and Poole [19] who reported that the interfacial layer consists of portlandite [Ca(OH)2] of thickness between 5 and 15 lm disrupted by inclusions of calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) gel. This protective lm protects the reinforcing steel from the access of aggressive ions and act as an alkaline buer to pH reductions resulting from the hydrolysis of corrosion products [20]. For corrosion to commence, the protective lm on the steelconcrete interface must be broken or chemically dissoluted [21]. Proposed mechanisms by which chlorides break down the passive layer are the build up of metal holes at the lm/substrate interface [22] as well as local acidication and pitting caused by high chloride concentrations at the iron oxide/pore solution interface. According to Leek and Poole [19], chloride ions initiate corrosion by breaking the bond between the passivating lm and the metal. Trittdart [23] proposed that chloride ions induced corrosion, commences when a concentration threshold of free chloride ions in the vicinity of the bar is reached. The establishment of the threshold level is a matter of current interest. However, this parameter is aected by a number of factors such as [24]:  The interstitial solution chemistry and pH;  Water to cement ratio;  Concrete composition;

 Pore and capillary structure;  Curing period as well as curing and exposure temperature. An eort to assess the eect of corrosion on the mechanical properties of reinforcing steel bars of Grade 60 of ASTM A615 (which is similar to BSt 420) has been made by Abdullah A. Almusallam. In his work [25], reinforcing steel bars of diameter B6 and B8 were embedded in concrete. The corrosion of the reinforcing steel bars was accelerated by partially immersing the specimens in a 5% sodium chloride solution and impressing am anodic current of 2 mA/cm2. After the desired level of corrosion was obtained, the steel bars were removed from the concrete matrix and tested in tension. A decrease of the maximum stress was observed and recorded, as well as a decrease of elongation to failure of the steel bars with increasing corrosion. In the same work, discrimination between the actual (eective) and the nominal (apparent) stress has been made. In a previous study completed by the authors of this work [26], the eects of gradually accumulating corrosion damage due to laboratory salt spray corrosion on the mechanical behavior of reinforcing steel bars grade BSt500s B8 has been assessed. The results of this experimental investigation had shown that the corrosion exposure causes an appreciable mass loss which increases with increasing duration of exposure. This leads to a signicant increase of the applied stress. In addition, a moderate reduction of the materials tensile strength values and a signicant reduction of the tensile ductility were observed. For laboratory salt spray exposure times, which are realistic for simulating natural corrosion, the tensile properties of the steel bars drop to values lying below the limits set in the standards presently in force for using steels in reinforced concrete members. The mechanical properties of reinforcing steel are most important in the case of RC structures, which are located in seismic areas. Earthquake loads act on the load bearing elements in the form of high strain reversals, which can be simulated as single axis low cycle fatigue [5]. In another work performed by the authors [27], the eects of gradually accumulating corrosion on the low cycle fatigue behavior of S500s grade steel have been assessed. This work had shown that corrosion causes an appreciable reduction in the ductility, strength and the number of cycles to failure of the material. Structures utilizing S400 grade steel are 2050 years old by now. In the case of coastal seismic counties such as Greece, damage has accumulated on the load bearing elements by corrosion as well as fatigue. No other works have been found in the available literature to account for the eects of corrosion on low cycle fatigue behavior of S400 grade steel. In the present study, the mechanical behavior of precorroded reinforcing bars S400, used in older reinforced concrete structures has been assessed. The results of tensile and low cycle fatigue experiments have shown that corro-

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sion causes a signicant reduction of the materials strength and ductility, as well as a notable reduction of the fatigue strength of the corroded material compared to the uncorroded material. The recorded embrittlement of the material at the various corrosion levels has been conrmed by assessing the experimental results of the low cycle fatigue experiments, where a signicant reduction of the dissipated energy was observed. 2. Experimental procedure The experiments were conducted on S400 steel grade reinforcing steel, specially produced for the needs of the current investigation by a Greek steel company. The material was delivered in the form of ribbed bars of nominal diameter B10. The exact chemical composition of the alloy is given in Table 1. From the bars, tensile specimens of 260 mm length were cut. The gauge length was 150 mm according to the specication DIN 488 Part 3 [28]. From the same material, specimens of length 170 mm (60 mm gauge length) were cut for the low cycle fatigue tests. Currently, there is no specication by which low cycle fatigue tests on reinforcing steel bars can be performed. Current specications for low cycle fatigue tests (such as [29]) require proper forming of the specimen either to a uniform gauge section or to an hourglass section. However, such forming would alter the ribbed nature of reinforcing bars leading to misleading test results. To avoid this, the tests were conducted on material specimens as are. A gauge length equal to six times the nominal diameter was selected since it represents the typical distance between stirrups used in modern day constructions requiring resistance to seismic loads. Furthermore, at this gauge length no buckling was observed so no antiTable 1 Chemical composition of the material under investigation C% 0.35 Mn% 0.94 S% 0.026 P% 0.013 Si% 0.26 Ni% 0.10

buckling device was required. Prior to the tests, the specimens were pre-corroded using accelerated laboratory corrosion tests in salt spray environment. All mechanical tests performed are summarized in Table 2. 2.1. Salt spray testing Salt spray (fog) tests were conducted according to the ASTM B117-94 specication. For the tests, a special apparatus, model SF 450 made by Cand W. Specialist Equipment Ltd. was used. The salt solution was prepared by dissolving 5 parts by mass of sodium chloride (NaCl) into 95 parts of distilled water. The pH of the salt spray solution was such that when dissolved at 35 C the solution was in the pH range from 6.5 to 7.2. The pH measurements were made at 25 C. The temperature in the zone of the reinforcement material exposed inside the salt spray chamber was maintained at 35 + 1.11.7 C. When exposure was completed, the specimens were washed with clean running water to remove any salt deposits from their surfaces and then were dried. The oxide layer was removed by means of a bristle brush, according to the ASTM G1-90 specication [30]. The selection of the salt spray test for corroding the specimens relies on the fact that the salt spray test environment lies qualitatively closer to the natural coastal environment than other accelerated laboratory corrosion tests. Whereby, the laboratory environment is much more aggressive than the natural one and causes a severe corrosion in a short time. The selection of the exposure duration was made also empirical. As shown in [26], corroded reinforcing bars taken from a building constructed in 1978 at a coastal site in Greece, suered a severe mass loss of the order of magnitude of 18%. Specimens subject to labora-

Cr% 0.16

Cu% 0.42

V% 0.002

Mo% 0.023

N% 0.010

Table 2 Performed mechanical tests for S400 B10 steel Test series 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Test series description Tensile tests on non-corroded control specimens Tensile tests on corroded specimens Tensile tests on corroded specimens Tensile tests on corroded specimens Tensile tests on corroded specimens Tensile tests on corroded specimens Tensile tests on corroded specimens LCF tests on non-corroded control specimens LCF tests on corroded specimens LCF tests on corroded specimens LCF tests on corroded specimens LCF tests on corroded specimens LCF tests on corroded specimens LCF tests on corroded specimens Corrosion exposure prior to tensile test None Salt spray Salt spray Salt spray Salt spray Salt spray Salt spray None Salt spray Salt spray Salt spray Salt spray Salt spray Salt spray corrosion corrosion corrosion corrosion corrosion corrosion corrosion corrosion corrosion corrosion corrosion corrosion for for for for for for for for for for for for 10 20 30 45 60 90 10 20 30 45 60 90 days days days days days days days days days days days days No. of tests conducted 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

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tory salt spray tests suered the same mass loss after an exposure of approximately 90 days. However, cases of even more severe mass loss of reinforcement have been observed and recorded. Such a case is shown in Fig. 1, where the recorded mass loss was locally as high as 45%. It is worth noting that currently there do not exist methodologies and, even less, standards for simulating the natural corrosion of reinforcing steels occurring during the life of reinforced concrete structures at the laboratory by means of accelerated corrosion tests. The above simulation problem becomes more dicult when considering the diversity of the natural environment. The corrosion measured for the above mentioned case appeared rather frequently during an extensive investigation on the integrity of older constructions at coastal sites in Greece. Even though the above results are not sucient for establishing exact correlations between laboratory salt spray tests and natural corrosion, they clearly indicate that laboratory salt spray exposures for 90 days and more are realistic for simulating the natural corrosion damage of steel bars which might accumulate during the service time of reinforced concrete structures at coastal sites. Reinforcing steel suering a mass loss equivalent to 90 days of accelerated corrosion has been found in structures ageing from 15 to 35 years, depending on several factors such as the thickness and the quality of the concrete cover, their location relative to the sea, etc. 2.2. Tensile tests The tensile tests were performed according to the DIN 488 specication [28]. For the tests, a servo-hydraulic MTS 250 kN machine was used (Fig. 2). The deformation rate was 2 mm/min. Evaluated were the tensile properties
Fig. 2. MTS 250 kN universal testing machine during a low cycle fatigue test.

yield stress Rp, maximum stress Rm, elongation to fracture ef and energy density W0. Energy density is calculated from the area under the true stresstrue strain curve. In the

Fig. 1. Photograph showing the corroded reinforcement of a column damaged by an earthquake.

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present work, the energy density has been evaluated from the engineering stressengineering strain curves as: Z ef r de 1 W0
0

as an engineering approximation. 2.3. Low cycle fatigue tests For the low cycle fatigue tests, specimens of 60 mm gauge length (6 nominal diameter) were used. The low cycle fatigue tests were performed on the same servohydraulic MTS 250 kN machine used for the tensile tests. The tests were strain controlled, and the strain level (total strain) selected was 1%. The sinusoidal cycling frequency was 0.5 Hz, which is in the frequency range recorded for a number of earthquakes [5]. Fig. 2 shows a specimen during low cycle fatigue testing. As mentioned above, for the gauge length of 60 mm and at strain levels of e = 1% no buckling was observed, therefore no anti-buckling device was needed. The number of cycles to failure, the dissipated energy, and the maximum tensile and compressive force per fatigue cycle of the steel bars were evaluated. The dissipated energy was evaluated as the sum of the hysterisis loop areas. Total strain, as described by Basquin and ConManson is given by [31]: Det Dee Dep of which the analytical expression is: Det Dee Dep r0 f 2N b e0f 2N c E 2 2 2

where Det/2 is the total strain amplitude, Dee/2 the elastic strain amplitude, Dep/2 the plastic strain amplitude, r0f the fatigue strength coecient, e0f the fatigue ductility coefcient, b the fatigue strength exponent, c the fatigue ductility exponent and E the modulus of elasticity, as shown in Fig. 3. 3. Results and discussion As expected, corrosion damage increases with increasing duration of exposure time to salt spray environment. The exposure of the specimens to the salt spray environment causes the production of an oxide layer which covers the specimen and increases in thickness with increasing exposure time of the specimen. The production of the oxide layer is associated to an appreciable loss of the specimens mass. As can be seen in Table 3, accelerated salt spray corrosion for 90 days causes a mass loss of approximately 8.5%. Although there is no direct correlation between natural and accelerated salt spray corrosion, the results clearly indicate that accelerated corrosion times of 90 days or more are realistic, if one compares the mass loss observed during the laboratory tests and that observed on the reinforcement of existing buildings [26] such as the case shown in Fig. 1. The dependency of the remaining mass on the duration of accelerated salt spray corrosion is displayed in Fig. 4. The derived dependency may be tted using the Weibull function: f t C 1 C2 C1 C elog t=C3 4 4

e/2

p t

e/2

Fig. 3. Stressstrain curve showing the elastic, plastic and total strain components. Table 3 Values of reduced specimen mass and diameter

The Weibull constants C1, C2, C3 and C4 are calculated by using a mathematical software, so that the sum of the squares of the deviations of the theoretical curve from the experimental results is at its minimum. The derived values of C1C4 for tting the experimental results if Fig. 4 are given in Table 4. The Weibull function has been used throughout this work, since it ts well the experimental results. By assuming a uniform production of the oxide layer around the specimen and hence a uniform mass loss, the results of Fig. 4 can be exploited to calculate the reduction of the nominal specimen diameter with increasing duration of the salt spray test. Percent mass loss a is dened as: m0 mr a 5 mr where m0 is the mass of the uncorroded specimen and mr is the reduced mass of the corroded specimen. Furthermore,

Exposure to salt spray corrosion environment [days] 0 Mass loss [%] Diameter [mm] 0 10 10 1.58 9.92 20 2.5 9.87 30 3.77 9.81 45 5.18 9.74 60 7.23 9.63 90 8.48 9.57

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10.1

100

10.0

Remaining mass [%]

98

9.9

Diameter [mm]

96

9.8

94

9.7

92

9.6

90

9.5

88 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

9.4 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Duration of accelerated salt spray corrosion [Days]

Fig. 4. Remaining mass as a function of the duration of corrosion exposure.

Duration of accelerated salt spray corrosion [Days]

Fig. 5. Diameter reduction caused by corrosion exposure.

assuming that the density of the material remains unaffected by corrosion leads to: mr d 2 r m0 d 2 0 6

By combining Eqs. (5) and (6), the reduced diameter dr is calculated as: p 7 d r d 0 1 a where a is the measured mass loss fraction and d0 is the nominal diameter of the uncorroded specimens (10 mm). The reduced values for the nominal specimen diameter are given in Table 3. The reduction of the specimen diameter with increasing salt spray exposure time is displayed in Fig. 5. The results in Fig. 5 were tted using Eq. (4). The Weibull values C1C4 for Fig. 5 are given in Table 4. 3.1. Tensile tests Notice that the strength calculation of steel reinforced concrete structures according to the standards [32] occurs by using an engineering stress estimated by assuming the cross-sectional area as: A pd 2 4 8

is no special consideration for the reduction of the nominal diameter of the reinforcing steel, even when evaluating the strength of an older reinforced concrete structure indicating a severe corrosion damage of the reinforcing bars as the case shown in Fig. 1. Displayed in Figs. 6 and 7 are the engineering yield stress and maximum stress as a function of the duration of accelerated salt spray corrosion. Note that two curves are displayed on each graph. The two curves are labelled as apparent and eective. As explained in [26], the apparent stresses are calculated by neglecting the reduction of the cross-sectional area of the specimens whereas the eective

Rp effective
460

Rpapparent
450

Yield stress, Rp [MPa]

440 430 420 410 400 390 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110

DIN 488

ELOT 959

with d being the nominal diameter of the bars. For the bars of the present study, the nominal diameter was 10 mm. It is worth noticing that according to the valid standards, there
Table 4 Weibull constants values Remaining mass C1 C2 C3 C4 69.32639 99.89621 2.76148 3.22034 Diameter reduction 8.44153 9.99448 2.74184 3.26958 Yield stress reduction 301.07112 457.84654 2.60055 3.11617

Duration of accelerated salt spray corrosion [Days]

Fig. 6. Eect of corrosion exposure on yield stress.

Maximum stress reduction 184.75058 693.2324 3.47137 3.25701

Elongation to fracture 81.89852 21.12193 6.01083 2.04808

Energy density 111.54956 134.74929 3.19213 2.38299

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Rm effective
700

861

Rm aparent Maximum stress, Rm [MPa]

680

660

640

620

600 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110

Duration of accelerated salt spray corrosion [Days]

Fig. 7. Eect of corrosion on maximum stress.

stress values are calculated by utilizing the remaining crosssectional area after the corrosion products were removed from the specimens surface according to ASTM G1-90 [30]. A linear t has been to approximate the reduction of the eective stress, while the dependency of the apparent stress has been tted using the Weibull function. The Weibull constants C1C4 are given in Table 4. The measured strength values are given in Table 5. As shown in the gures, the apparent value of yield stress, Rpapp, lies above the limits of Rp = 400 MPa, which are set by the Hellenic standards [1] for involving reinforcing steels, after 90 days exposure to salt spray. However, the tting curve drops below the limit of 400 MPa after 105 days exposure to the corroding environment. The German standards [2], which set a lower limit of Rp = 420 MPa, are no longer met after 53 days exposure to salt spray. For the uncorroded material, the eective strength values have been calculated by using the true cross-sectional area [28]: As 1:274 G l 9

tional area was calculated by using Eq. (8). As can be seen in Figs. 6 and 7, the corrosion attack causes a moderate tensile strength reduction which increases with increasing duration of the corrosion exposure, even though for the calculation, the reduced nominal specimen diameters have been used. The obtained degradation of the apparent strength values of the material reects not only the eect of corrosion on the mechanical properties of the material but also a stress increase due to the reduction of the specimens cross-section. It is noticeable that, as the loads of a reinforced concrete structure remain the same during the service time of the structure, the reduction of the load carrying cross-section of the bars due to corrosion damage results to an increase of the stress applied to the bars. By considering Eqs. (7) and (8), the values of the applied stress on the reinforcing bars can be calculated as: r0 r 10 1 a with r0 being the applied stress for the uncorroded material. The eects of increasing corrosion damage on the tensile ductility of the investigated steel bars are shown in Figs. 8 and 9. Both elongation to fracture, Fig. 8, and energy

22

20

Elongation to fracture [%]

18

16

14

ELOT 959

12

10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

where G is the weight and l is the length of the specimen, whereas for the apparent strength values, the cross-sec-

Duration of accelerated salt spray corrosion [Days]

Fig. 8. Eect of corrosion on elongation to fracture.

Table 5 Mechanical property degradation during salt spray corrosion Mechanical property Exposure to salt spray corrosion environment [days] 0 Eective yield strength [MPa] Apparent yield strength [MPa] Eective maximum stress [MPa] Apparent maximum stress [MPa] Elongation to fracture [%] Energy density [MPa] Maximum tensile force [kN] Maximum compressive force [kN] 460.26 459.08 698.29 696.49 21.24 136.72 36.72 36.56 10 454.89 448.1 690.64 680.34 18.15 114.14 36.31 35.66 20 454.83 438.15 692.01 666.64 16.82 106.87 35.84 35.18 30 453.06 436.35 695.29 669.64 15.49 103.13 35.34 34.41 45 449.5 427.13 685.02 650.93 14.34 89.23 33.98 33.10 60 446.29 413.49 691.2 640.41 13.15 82.35 32.55 32.55 90 442.18 405.01 674.93 618.17 10.99 65.92 30.36 30.29

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140

Energy density [MPa]

120

100

80

60

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Duration of accelerated salt spray corrosion [Days]

Fig. 9. Eect of corrosion on energy density.

density, Fig. 9, decrease appreciably with increasing duration of the salt spray exposure. The value of elongation to fracture meets the requirement fu P 14%, as requested by the standards in [1,33] for exposures to salt spray of up to 47 days. As discussed above, the corrosion damage referring to 47 days laboratory salt spray exposure is not unrealistic for corroded reinforcing steels of older buildings at coastal sites. Figs. 8 and 9 have been approximately tted using the Weibull function. The Weibull constants C1 C4 are given in Table 4. The standards do not require for the evaluation of the energy density W of the reinforcing steel. Energy density is a material property which characterizes the damage tolerance potential of a material and may be used to evaluate the material fracture under both, static and fatigue loading conditions [34]. Note that energy density may be directly related to the plain strain fracture toughness value, KIC [35], which evaluates the fracture of a cracked member under plain strain loading conditions. The observed appreciable reduction on tensile ductility due to corrosion, may represent a serious problem for the safety of constructions in seismically active areas. As during the seismic tremor the reinforcement is often subjected to stress events at the region of low cycle fatigue, the need for a sucient storage capacity of the material is imperative (see Table 6). 3.2. Low cycle fatigue tests The low cycle fatigue tests which were performed have shown that corrosion has a signicant eect on the ability
Table 6 Eect of salt spray corrosion on low cycle fatigue properties Property

of the material to withstand high strain cycling. Fig. 10 shows the dependence of the number of cycles to failure on the duration of salt spray exposure. Note the eect that corrosion has, especially during the rst stages of corrosion. After only 10 days exposure to the salt spray solution which, recalling Fig. 4, causes a mass loss of less than 2% (or a diameter reduction by 0.08 mm), there is a reduction of 22% in the number of cycles to failure. After 20 days exposure (mass loss less than 3%, diameter reduction by 0.13 mm) there is a reduction in the number of cycles to failure by 47%. Finally, after 90 days, when the mass loss is less than 9% (diameter reduction by 0.43 mm), the reduction of the number of cycles to failure is approximately 68%. A similar reduction pattern was observed when considering the total energy dissipated by the test specimens until failure, Fig. 11. The Weibull constants C1C4 for Figs. 10 and 11 are given in Table 7. The dissipated energy in one fatigue cycle is the area enclosed within the hysterisis loop (Fig. 3). The total energy dissipated is calculated as the sum of all hysterisis loop areas. As can be seen from Figs. 10 and 11, the reduction rate of the cycles to failure and of the dissipated energy is high in at the rst stages of corrosion and decreases with advancing corrosion. By using a visual basic code (created in Microsoft Excel), the maximum force (tensile and compressive) for each fatigue cycle has been evaluated. As can be seen in Fig. 12, the maximum tensile force of the uncorroded material drops from about 37 kN to about 32.5 kN after the rst 150 fatigue cycles where it remains almost stable until the last stages before failure. Note that one of the main func1200 1100 1000 900

Cycles to failure

800 700 600 500 400 300 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Duration of accelerated salt spray corrosion [Days]

Fig. 10. Eect of corrosion on the number of cycles to failure under low cycle fatigue, e = 1%.

Exposure to salt spray corrosion environment [days] 0 10 861 4575 20 581 3310 30 509 2902 45 408 2398 60 363 2151 90 349 1862

Cycles to failure Dissipated energy [MPa]

1103 6122

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863

6000

Dissipated energy [MPa]

5000

4000

forcement corrosion is a very common eect, especially in the case of structures built near coastal areas. Greece is a country that combines high seismicity and an environment rich in chlorides which causes early corrosion initiation of all structures. As shown, in the long run this combination may be catastrophic if the proper precautions are not taken during the construction stages of structures and if proper maintenance is not performed.

3000

4. Conclusions
2000

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Duration of accelerated salt spray corrosion [Days]

Fig. 11. Eect of corrosion on the dissipated energy, e = 1%.

Table 7 Weibull values for tting cycles to failure and dissipated energy Cycles to failure C1 C2 C3 C4 341.52647 1105.18265 1.28279 3.61276 Dissipated energy 1645.18654 6128.9234 1.33748 2.80452

40 35 30

Uncorroded

25 20 15 -15 -20 -25 -30 -35

Corroded (90 days)

Corroded (45 days)

Corroded (10 days)

800 1000 1200

200

400

600

Cycles Corroded (90 days) Corroded (45 days) Corroded (10 days) Uncorroded

Fig. 12. Maximum tensile and compressive force per fatigue cycle, e = 1%.

tions of reinforcing steel in concrete is to carry the tensile loads. This indicates that since the applied loads remain constant over time on the load carrying elements of a structure, the designed displacements increase after the rst few fatigue cycles, altering the static design of the structure. The eect is even more profound in the case of corroded reinforcement. As shown in Fig. 12, the maximum tensile force drops to about 27.5 kN and remains almost stable until the last stages before failure, which recalling Fig. 10 occurs at a much smaller number of cycles. The results of the tests have shown a reduction of the fatigue properties of the steel which is non-proportional to the mass loss of the specimens. As discussed above, rein-

 The exposure of the steel bars S400 (the Hellenic equivalent to BSt 420s) to salt spray environment results in an appreciable mass loss which increases with increasing duration of exposure. Durations of laboratory salt spray exposures of 90 days or longer are realistic for simulating natural corrosion damage obtained at members of old buildings at coastal sites.  Salt spray exposure has a moderate eect on the strength properties of S400 grade steel. Yet, when considering the apparent stress values, the yield stress of the material drops to values lying below the minimum required values set by the standards after approximately 105 days of salt spray exposure, which corresponds to a mass loss of about 9%.  Salt spray exposure has an appreciable eect on the tensile ductility of the material. For salt spray exposures longer than 47 days, elongation to fracture drops to values lying below the ef = 14% limit which is required in the standards.  The reduction of the ductility has a detrimental eect on low cycle fatigue behavior of the material. A mass loss of less than 2% causes a 22% reduction to the number of cycles to failure while a 3% mass loss corresponds to a 47% reduction of the number of cycles to failure.  Present day standards for calculating strength of reinforced concrete members do not account for the appreciable property degradation of the reinforcing steel bars due to the gradually accumulating corrosion damage. A revision of the standards such as to account for the above corrosion eects on the material properties seems to be required, since in our days, many restoration works are planed and performed on aged RC structures utilizing S400 grade steel, without considering the eects of corrosion.

Maximum force per cycle [KN]

References
[1] ELOT 959, Hellenic standard, steels for the reinforcement of concrete; 1994. [2] DIN 488-1, Reinforcing steel grades, properties, marking; 1986. [3] Strategic High Research Program. Concrete and structures: progress and product update. Washington (DC): National Research Council; 1989. [4] Wallbank EJ. The performance of concrete in bridges. London: HMSO; 1989.

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