Simulation of Corrosion-Induced Cracking of Reinforced Concrete Based on Fracture Phase Field Method

Accurate simulation of the cracking process caused by rust expansion of reinforced concrete(RC)structures plays an intuitive role in revealing the corrosion-induced failure mechanism.Considering the quasi-brittle fracture of concrete,the fracture phase field driven by the compressive-shear term is constructed and added to the traditional brittle fracture phase field model.The rationality of the proposed model is verified by a mixed fracture example under a shear displacement load.Then,the extended fracture phase model is applied to simulate the corrosion-induced cracking process of RC.The cracking patterns caused by non-uniform corrosion expansion are discussed for RC specimens with homogeneous macroscopically or heterogeneous with different polygonal aggregate distributions at the mesoscopic scale.Then,the effects of the protective layer on the crack propagation trajectory and cracking resistance are investigated,illustrating that the cracking angle and cracking resistance increase with the increase of the protective layer thickness,consistent with the experimental observation.Finally,the corrosion-induced cracking process of concrete specimens with large and small spacing rebars is simulated,and the interaction of multiple corrosion cracking is easily influenced by the reinforcement spacing,which increases with the decrease of the steel bar interval.These conclusions play an important role in the design of engineering anti-corrosion measures.The fracture phase field model can provide strong support for the life assessment of RC structures.

Effect of Shrinkage Reducing Agent and Steel Fiber on the Fluidity and Cracking Performance of Ultra-High Performance Concrete

Due to the low water-cement ratio of ultra-high-performance concrete(UHPC),fluidity and shrinkage cracking are key aspects determining the performance and durability of this type of concrete.In this study,the effects of different types of cementitious materials,chemical shrinkage-reducing agents(SRA)and steel fiber(SF)were assessed.Compared with M2-UHPC and M3-UHPC,M1-UHPC was found to have better fluidity and shrinkage cracking performance.Moreover,different SRA incorporation methods,dosage and different SF types and aspect ratios were implemented.The incorporation of SRA and SF led to a decrease in the fluidity of UHPC.SRA internal content of 1%(NSRA-1%),SRA external content of 1%(WSRA-1%),STS-0.22 and STE-0.7 decreased the fluidity of UHPC by 3.3%,8.3%,9.2%and 25%,respectively.However,SRA and SF improved the UHPC shrinkage cracking performance.NSRA-1%and STE-0.7 reduced the shrinkage value of UHPC by 40%and 60%,respectively,and increased the crack resistance by 338%and 175%,respectively.In addition,the addition of SF was observed to make the microstructure of UHPC more compact,and the compressive strength and flexural strength of 28 d were increased by 26.9%and 19.9%,respectively.

Analytic model of non-uniform corrosion induced cracking of reinforced concrete structure

In order to perfectly reflect the dynamic corrosion of reinforced concrete (RC) cover in practical engineering,an analytic model of non-uniform corrosion induced cracking was presented based on the elastic-plastic fracture mechanics theory.Comparisons with the published experimental data show that the predictions given by the present model are in good agreement with the results both for natural exposed experiments and short-time indoor tests (the best difference is about 2.7%).Also it obviously provides much better precision than those models under the assumption of uniform corrosion (the maximal improved precision is about 48%).Therefore,it is pointed out that the so-called uniform corrosion models to describe the cover cracking of RC should be adopted cautiously.Finally,the influences of thickness of local rusty layer around the reinforcing steel bar on the critical corrosion-induced crack indexes were investigated.It is found that the thickness of local rusty layer has great effect on the critical mass loss of reinforcing steel,threshold expansion pressure,and time to cover cracking.For local rusty layer thickness with a size of a=0.5 mm,the time to cover cracking will increase by about one times when a/b (a,semi-minor axis;b,semi-major axis) changes from 0.1 to 1 mm.

Probabilistic Lifetime Assessment of Marine Reinforced Concrete with Steel Corrosion and Cover Cracking

In order to study the durability behavior of marine reinforced concrete structure suffering from chloride attack, the structural service life is assumed to be divided into three critical stages, which can be characterized by steel corrosion and cover cracking. For each stage, a calculated model used to predict the lifetime is developed. Based on the definition of durability limit state, a probabilistic lifetime model and its time-dependent reliability analytical method are proposed considering the random natures of influencing factors. Then, the probabilistic lifetime prediction models are applied to a bridge pier located in the Hangzhou Bay with Monte Carlo simulation. It is found that the time to corrosion initiation to follows a lognormal distribution, while that the time from corrosion initiation to cover cracking t~ and the time for crack to develop from hairline crack to a limit crack width t2 can be described by Weibull distributions. With the permitted failure probability of 5.0%, it is also observed that the structural durability lifetime mainly depends on the durability life to and that the percentage of participation of the life to to the total service life grows from 61.5% to 83.6% when the cover thickness increases from 40 mm to 80 mm. Therefore, for any part of the marine RC bridge, the lifetime predictions and maintenance efforts should also be directed toward controlling the stage of corrosion initiation induced by chloride ion.

Assessment of early-age cracking of high-performance concrete in restrained ring specimens

High-performance concrete （HPC） is stronger and more durable than conventional concrete. However, shrinkage and shrinkage cracking are common phenomena in HPC, especially early-age cracking. This study assessed early-age cracking of HPC for two mixtures using restrained ring tests. The two mixtures were produced with water/binder mass ratio （mw/mB） of 0.22 and 0.40, respectively. The results show that, with greater steel thickness, the higher degree of restraint resulted in a higher interface pressure and earlier cracking. With steel thickness of 6 mm, 19 mm, and 30 mm, the age of cracking were, respectively, 12 days, 8 days, and 5.4 days with the mw/mB = 0.22 mixture; and 22.5 days, 12.6 days, and 7.1 days with the mw/mB= 0.40 mixture. Cases of the same steel thickness show that the ring specimens with a thicker concrete wall crack later. With the mw/mB = 0.22 mixture, concrete walls with thicknesses of 37.5 mm, 75 mm, and 112.5 mm cracked at 3.4 days, 8.0 days, and 9.8 days, respectively; with the mw/mB = 0.40 mixture, the ages of cracking were 7.1 days, 12.6 days, and 16.0 days, respectively.

Finite element analysis of road structure containing top-down crack within asphalt concrete layer

In this paper, a four-layered road structure containing a top-down crack is investigated by performing finite element analyses in ABAQUS. In this study, in addition to the vertical load of a vehicle wheel, the horizontal load as well as its position with respect to the crack is also considered in the analyses, and the crack tip parameters including stress intensity factors(SIFs) and T-stress are then calculated. Moreover, influence of elastic modulus and thickness of the pavement layers on the crack tip parameters is studied. Results show that the horizontal and vertical loads along with their position with respect to the crack, elastic modulus and thickness of the road layers influence the crack tip parameters(KⅠ, KⅡ and T-stress) significantly. It was also found that for the cases that the vehicle wheel is positioned near the crack plane, only the shear deformation mode is observed at the crack tip;while, for the vehicle wheel positions far from the crack, only the opening mode is observed, and between these positions, both the opening and shear deformation modes(i.e., mixed mode Ⅰ/Ⅱ) are observed at the crack tip.

Experimental and analytical studies on the vibration serviceability of long-span prestressed concrete floor

An extensive experimental and theoretical research study was undertaken to study the vibration serviceability of a long-span prestressed concrete floor system to be used in the lounge of a major airport.Specifically,jumping impact tests were carried out to obtain the floor’s modal parameters,followed by an analysis of the distribution of peak accelerations.Running tests were also performed to capture the acceleration responses.The prestressed concrete floor was found to have a low fundamental natural frequency（≈8.86 Hz）corresponding to the average modal damping ratio of≈2.17%.A coefficients plate with simply-supported edges.The calculated analytical results（natural frequencies and root-mean-square acceleration）agree well with the experimental ones.The analytical approach is thus validated.

Evaluation method of cracking resistance of lightweight aggregate concrete

The cracking behavior of lightweight aggregate concrete(LWAC) was investigated by mechanical analysis, SEM and cracking-resistant test where a shrinkage-restrained ring with a clapboard was used. The relationship between the ceramsite type and the cracking resistance of LWAC was built up and compared with that of normal-weight coarse aggregate concrete(NWAC). A new method was proposed to evaluate the cracking resistance of concrete, where the concepts of cracking coefficient ζt(t) and the evaluation index Acr(t) were proposed, and the development of micro-cracks and damage accumulation were recognized. For the concrete with an ascending cracking coefficient curve, the larger Acr(t) is, the lower cracking resistance of concrete is. For the concrete with a descending cracking coefficient curve, the larger Acr(t) is, the stronger the cracking resistance of concrete is. The evaluation results show that in the case of that all the three types of coarse aggregates in concrete are pre-soaked for 24 h, NWAC has the lowest cracking resistance, followed by the LWAC with lower water absorption capacity ceramsite and the LWAC with higher water absorption capacity ceramsite has the strongest cracking resistance. The proposed method has obvious advantages over the cracking age method, because it can evaluate the cracking behavior of concrete even if the concrete has not an observable crack.

Experimental study on mechanical property of stiffening-ribbed-hollow-pipe cast-in place reinforced concrete girderless floor

Stiffening-ribbed-hollow-pipe cast-in place reinforced concrete girderless floor is a new-style hollow girderless floor system. Model experimental researches of simply-supported floor and four-corners bearing floor have been done on this new kind of floor system in this paper. The experiment results show that the floor system has good mechanical property such as high bearing capacity, big rigidity and good tensility. A theoretical method is presented in this paper that the stiffening-ribbed-hollow-pipe girderless floor can be analyzed by being converted equivalently to orthotropic solid slab. It is indicated that the method is correct and reasonable according to the contrast between theoretical calculated results and experimental measured results. The theoretical results coincide with the measured results well.

Chloride diffusivity in flexural cracked Portland cement concrete and fly ash concrete beams

In order to examine the effect of load-induced transverse cracks on the chloride penetration in flexural concrete beams, two different concretes, Portland cement concrete(PCC) and fly ash concrete(FAC), were tested with various crack widths. Total 14 reinforced concrete(RC) beams, ten of which were self-anchored in a three-point bending mode, were immersed into a 5% NaCl solution with the condition of dry-wet cycles. Then, the free chloride ion contents were determined by rapid chloride testing(RCT) method. Based on the proposed analytical models of chloride penetration in sound and cracked concrete subjected to dry-wet cycles, the apparent chloride diffusion coefficient and chloride diffusivity of concrete were discussed. It can be found that the performance of chloride diffusivity in both concretes will be improved with the increase of crack width, and that the influence of convection action will also be augmented. Based on the two samples obtained in sound concrete after 15 and 30 cycles, the time-exponent, m, for chloride diffusion coefficient was determined to be 0.58, 0.42, 0.62 and 0.77 for PCC1, PCC2, FAC1 and FAC2 specimens, respectively. Finally, two influencing factors of fly ash content and crack width on chloride diffusivity were obtained by regression analysis of test data, and it can be seen that factors kf and kw can be expressed with quadratic polynomial functions of fly ash content, f, and crack width, w, respectively.

Effect of Pulse Parameters on Deposition in Concrete Crack using Pulse Current Electro-deposition

To evaluate the effect of pulse parameters on the formation of electrodeposits in concrete cracks, five different types of pulse current were set up, and ZnSO_4 and MgSO_4 solutions were used as the electrolytes. The rate of weight gain, rate of surface coating, rate of crack closure and crack filling depth were measured. Scanning electron microscopy was used to assess the morphology of the electrodeposits, and energy dispersive spectroscopy was used to analyze the mineral composition of the electrodeposits in the cracks. The experimental results demonstrate that, among five different pulse parameters, when T_（on）/T_（off）=0.8 ms/0.8 ms, the healing effect of electro-deposition is the best. The pulse mode hardly affects the mineral composition of the electrodeposits but changes the micromorphology. In addition, for both ZnSO_4 and MgSO_4 solutions, when T_（on）/T_（off）=0.8 ms/0.8 ms, the crystal structure of the electrodeposits is the most uniform and the densest.

Lifetime Reliability Analysis of Flexural Cracking for Prestressed Concrete Bridge

Time-dependant reliability is analyzed for the flexural cracking of prestressed concrete bridges under service limit state. The limit state function and random variables are derived from Chinese highway bridge design specifications. For deterioration of structural performances, chloride-induced reinforcement corrosion is emphasized. Through integrating first order reliability method （FORM） and time discretized approach, the time-variant reliability is evaluated. For illustrative propose, the reliability of a typical simply supported prestressed concrete beam is exemplified.

Simulation of the Cracking and Ablation Behavior of Ferrosiliceous and Siliceous Nuclear Sacrificial Concretes

We investigated the simulation of the cracking and ablation behavior of ferro-siliceous and siliceous nuclear sacrificial concretes. To this end, four type of sacrificial concretes were fabricated, i e, the ferro-siliceous（F） and siliceous（S） plain concretes, and the polypropylene fiber reinforced concretes of the above two（FF, SF）. The cracking and ablation behaviors of the sacrificial concretes were investigated by simulation tests, and the simulated elevated temperature was obtained by means of thermite powder. The number and the width of the cracks were compared and the pore size distribution of sacrificial concretes was measured. In addition, the interface and chemical composition of melt at different positions were analyzed, and the ablation depth of the sacrificial concrete crucibles was also measured. It was found that the siliceous concrete shows to be more prone to cracking than the ferro-siliceous concrete due to the higher content of fly ash and lower water to binder ratio; though the ablation depth of siliceous concrete is found to be slightly larger, no clear difference can be detected for the basemat ablation rate.

On the treatment of thermal cracks in lining concrete of water conveyance system of Three Gorges Project permanent ship locks

A comprehensive investigation was performed for repairing the different types of cracks appearing on the surface or inside the concrete lining at various depths.The mate- rial properties used in grouting and two methods for crack repair were discussed in details, and consequently reliable repair measures were proposed and implemented.It is a better choice to adopt the hole-drilling method for the relatively regular crack.The grouting pres- sure should not be too high and it is generally between 0.4～0.6 MPa.For the second time grouting,the pressure maybe increased to 0.8 MPa.Other method is the pasting nozzles method which is more suitable for irregular cracks such as cracks with intensive density and crossing cracks.Its grouting pressure is generally between 0.6～1.0 MPa.The in-situ tests in Three Gorges Project demonstrate favorably the feasibility and applicability of the proposed methods for crack repair within the lining concrete.

Comparison of Crack Width and Space between SCC and Conventional Concrete Beams

Concrete is a material which is in wide use in engineering especially in construction engineering and road infrastructure facilities. Development trends for high rise constructions, modern skyscrapers indicate that building such constructions with normal concretes and low consistency is impossible, therefore there is a need for concrete with high processes because of great amount of reinforcement in cross-section of concrete elements. Solution for such construction is self-compacting concrete because of its ability to fill good formworks without compaction and vibration. Considering this fact, researches for cracks, mechanical characteristics of concrete and deformations have been conducted worldwide. In this paper, we conducted an experimental research to determine the cracks on beams of self-compacting concrete and compared it with conventional concrete. The experimentally-obtained results will be presented for both types of concrete for： module of elasticity, compression strength, crack with and cracks spacing for duration failure testing time t = 400 days.

Construction Technical Temperature Cracking for a and Control of Concrete Plate Type Raft Foundation

The mass fiat raft foundation Section is large and Cement is in large quantities, the temperature changes in the larger cement hydration heat of the water releasing, the temperature stress is main reason reducing cracking. According to the basement of a project of Guangzhou large slab raft foundation engineering as an example, Discussing the construction technology measures of early crack of large volume concrete of raft plate in the process of construction,. The results show that it Can effectively prevents the slab foundation structure cracking and achieves good results through controlling Concrete materials and concrete temperature Parameter such as the lifting machine temperature and the pouring temperature and the expansion joint or the whole pouring length.

Evaluation Method and Mitigation Strategies for Shrinkage Cracking of Modern Concrete

The complex compositions and large shrinkage of concrete,as well as the strong constraints of the structures,often lead to prominent shrinkage cracking problems in modem concrete structures.This paper first introduces a multi-field(hydro-thermo-hygro-constraint)coupling model with the hydration degree of cementitious materials as the basic state parameter to estimate the shrinkage cracking risk of hardening concrete under coupling effects.Second,three new key technologies are illustrated:temperature rise inhibition,full-stage shrinkage compensation,and shrinkage reduction technologies.These technologies can efficiently reduce the thermal,autogenous,and drying shrinkages of concrete.There after,a design process based on the theoretical model and key technologies is proposed to control thecracking risk index below the threshold value.Finally,two engineering application examples are provided that demonstrate that concrete shrinkage cracking can be significantly mitigated by adopting the proposed methods and technologies.

Discrete Element Modeling of Asphalt Concrete Cracking Using a User-def ined Three-dimensional Micromechanical Approach

We established a user-defined micromechanical model using discrete element method （DEM） to investigate the cracking behavior of asphalt concrete （AC）. Using the ＂Fish＂ language provided in the particle flow code in 3-Demensions （PFC3D）, the air voids and mastics in asphalt concrete were realistically built as two distinct phases. With the irregular shape of individual aggregate particles modeled using a clump of spheres of different sizes, the three-dimensional （3D） discrete element model was able to account for aggregate gradation and fraction. Laboratory uniaxial complex modulus test and indirect tensile strength test were performed to obtain input material parameters for the numerical simulation. A set of the indirect tensile test were simulated to study the cracking behavior of AC at two levels of temperature, i e, -10 ℃ and 15 ℃. The predicted results of the numerical simulation were compared with laboratory experimental measurements. Results show that the 3D DEM model is able to predict accurately the fracture pattern of different asphalt mixtures. Based on the DEM model, the effects of air void content and aggregate volumetric fraction on the cracking behavior of asphalt concrete were evaluated.

Tensile Strength Characteristics of GFRP Bars in Concrete Beams with Work Cracks under Sustained Loading and Severe Environments

To investigate the effect of different environmental conditions of GFRP bars in concrete beams with work cracks subjected to sustained loads, the beams were exposed in indoor, freeze/thaw cycles and immersed in alkaline solution at elevated temperature. The bars were carefully extracted from the beams and tested in order to evaluate residual tensile properties. The results show that the tensile strength decreased significantly in the highly aggressive conditions but not in the natural conditions. The effect of GFRP bars casting in concrete beams demonstrated approximately 2.5% decrease of tensile strength caused by pore water environment in concrete beams on basis of those of the original bars. The effect of sustained loading plus work cracks demonstrated about 10.5% tensile strength decrease on basis of those of the bars only casted in concrete beams. The effect of environments under sustained loading plus work cracks demonstrated about 17% tensile strength decrease caused by a saturated solution of Ca（OH）2 and 60-2 ℃ tap water （pH=12-13） and about 8% tensile strength decrease caused by freezing and thawing cycle （F/T）, both on basis of those of the bars of the indoor beams only under sustained loading plus work cracks. The results demonstrate the effects of the tensile strengths under different environmental conditions of GFRP bars in concrete beams with work cracks subjected to sustained loads.

Influence of fly ash on early-age cracking behavior of high-flowing concrete

The effects of quality and content of fly ash on the early-age cracking behavior of high-flowing concrete （HFC） were investigated. The early-age cracking behavior of the HFC was analyzed by combining the tests of evaporation capacity and electrical resistivity of the HFC. In these tests, a modified flat-type specimen was adopted. The results show that the HFC will have a lower evaporation capacity when it is mixed with fine fly ash, while it will have a higher evaporation capacity when grade II! fly ash is used as mineral admixture. And the electrical resistivity rate of HFC reduces with the increase of the content of fly ash. A nonlinear relationship exists between the cracking time of HFC and the minimum electrical resistivity. The early-age cracking behavior of HFC with fly ash can be enhanced by appropriately increasing the fine particle content and MgO, K2O, and SO3 contents of fly ash. The optimal content of fly ash, which makes a satisfied early-age cracking behavior of HFC, is obtained. And when the content of fly ash exceeds a critical value, the early-age cracking behavior of HFC will rapidly decrease.