A method of numerical analyses for predicting corrosion-induced mechanical deterioration of RC structures

A numerical analysis method is developed to predict the mechanical deterioration of reinforcedconcrete (RC) structures that is caused by the corrosion of steel members followed by diffusion of reactive substances. Electro-chemical reactions are taken into account to determine the amount of corroded products at the steel surface, while the time-variation of its domain is captured by the level-set function, which is converted into regularized Heaviside function for interpolating material properties between separate materials. Expansive strain due to corrosion is introduced to represent cracking, which is modeled by a continuum damage model at finite strain. A series of numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the capability of the proposed method. In particular, the accelerated corrosion test and the drawing test are simulated and the results are compared with the experimental ones.