The structural assessment for concrete structure on the onset of cracking with respect to steel corrosion

The present study concerns structural behaviour of a marine bridge in terms of cracking exposed to a seawater environment under the risk of chloride-induced corrosion with the axial loading. In the modelling process, the corrosion propagation was expressed into the rust formation on the steel surface, while the axial load was given 5–30 % to the compressive strength of concrete. The interfacial gap between steel and concrete was taken 10 µm, imposing the buffering capacity against a build-up of the rust at the steel-concrete interface. As a result, it was found that the tensile damage produced the cracking on the surface of concrete with a minimal corrosion of steel, which was further developed into the inner concrete depth with increasing corrosion formation. Also, an increase in the axial load resulted in an increase in the surface cracking at a given rust formation. At the steel-concrete interface, the cracking was much affected by the compressive deformation arising from a build-up of rust, as being limited in the vicinity in the interfacial zone, presumably due to the limited rust formation. A combination of steel corrosion and axial loading imposes the accelerated cracking of concrete structure then to rapidly deteriorate its serviceability.