A practical approach for monitoring reinforcement corrosion in steel fiber reinforced concrete elements exposed to chloride rich environments

Abstract

The use of fibers in Reinforced Concrete (RC) elements changes their crackingpattern, leading to narrower and more closely spaced cracks. In addition, thepresence of fibers can improve the steel-to-concrete bond behavior reducingthe steel-to-concrete interface damage after cracking. Cracks and steel-to-concrete interface damage work like paths, for aggressive agents, to reach therebar in cracking elements, reducing the initiation period of the corrosion pro-cess, and favoring the corrosion at the intersection between cracks and rein-forcement. In this context, this article discusses an experimental program ontension ties mechanically cracked and exposed to a chloride-rich environmentwith the purpose to check and eventually adequate the typical electrochemicalmeasurements, used in the case of RC elements, for Steel Fiber ReinforcedConcrete (SFRC). Adjustments related to degradation morphology and interfer-ence of steel fibers are proposed and used on Fiber Reinforced Concrete (FRC)elements for monitoring the influence of cracks and fibers on corrosion propa-gation. Finally, these proposed modifications were checked and validatedagainst the results obtained by monitoring SFRC beams in the cracked stage.