Structural response of reinforcing bars affected by pitting corrosion: experimental evaluation

Abstract The present paper discusses the results of an experimental campaign carried out on corroded bars subjected to tensile test, aiming to investigate the minimum cross-sectional area of corroded bars and their related residual mechanical properties. Indeed, the effect of choosing different parameters (e.g. the weight loss, the maximum section loss) for evaluating the residual mechanical properties of bars affected by pitting corrosion was deeply investigated and pit morphology was found to be relevant: actually, reinforcing bars with pits of equal depth or mass loss exhibited completely different responses, so proven that these two parameters alone should not be considered representative for a reliable assessment of the corrosive attack. The obtained results are then compared with experimental tests from literature, observing that the weight loss by the corroded bars can be effectively related to their residual strength, but not to the residual ductility. Finally, new relationships for the estimation of the residual mechanical properties of corroded reinforcement are proposed.