Awarded as the best online publication by CIDC

What is the effect of rusting on steel reinforcement?

The corrosion of steel reinforcement inside a concrete structure is undesirable in the following ways:

(i) The presence of rust impairs the bond strength of deformed reinforcement because corrosion occurs at the raised ribs and fills the gap between ribs, thus evening out the original deformed shape. In essence, the bond between concrete and deformed bars originates from the mechanical lock between the raised ribs and concrete. The reduction of mechanical locks by corrosion results in the decline in bond strength with concrete.

(ii) The presence of corrosion reduces the effective cross sectional area of the steel reinforcement. Hence, the available tensile capacity of steel reinforcement is reduced by a considerable reduction in the cross sectional area.

(iii) The corrosion products occupy about 3 times the original volume of steel from which it is formed. Such drastic increase in volume generates significant bursting forces in the vicinity of steel reinforcement. Consequently, cracks are formed along the steel reinforcement when the tensile strength of concrete is exceeded.

Advertisements

This question is taken from book named – A Self Learning Manual – Mastering Different Fields of Civil Engineering Works (VC-Q-A-Method) by Vincent T. H. CHU.

Share this post

Kanwarjot Singh

Kanwarjot Singh is the founder of Civil Engineering Portal, a leading civil engineering website which has been awarded as the best online publication by CIDC. He did his BE civil from Thapar University, Patiala and has been working on this website with his team of Civil Engineers.

If you have a query, you can ask a question here.

2 comments on "What is the effect of rusting on steel reinforcement?"

prashant patil says:

we have to search preventive measures of corrossion

Ambi says:

Sir can u explain the 3rd statemnt direction of crack and the direction of bursting pressure it is radial or circumferential???

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Ask a question