An integrated material-structural analysis of prestress concrete affected by corrosion of non-prestressed reinforcement

Corrosion-induced concrete cracking is a significant stage of structural deterioration in prestressed concrete (PC) structures. Most current research predominantly focuses on the corrosion of prestressed steel strands, while paying limited attention to the study of non-prestressed reinforcement corrosion. In this study, an integrated material-structural numerical approach was developed to simulate corroded PC beams, considering corrosion products migration in pores and cracks. The cracking patterns and prestress losses obtained from the simulation results agreed well with experimental observations. Subsequently, using the proposed numerical approach, the interaction mechanism of the prestress level and reinforcement corrosion was investigated. The simulation results indicated that corrosion of longitudinal reinforcement leads to cross-sectional damage, causing the redistribution of stress across the section and increasing long-term deformation, ultimately resulting in prestress losses. Meanwhile, stirrup corrosion leads to an initial increase in prestress due to expansion forces when the degree of corrosion is not so high, but finally it will also lead to a degradation of mechanical performance.