| Presently, durability design of reinforced concrete structures is dealt with in a purely deterministic way and deterioration models have not been developed to their full potential. In particular, researchers who have investigated corrosion and the models currently used to predict the response of concrete, have often overlooked the effect of cracking. Cracks in concrete generally interconnect flow paths and increase the influx of water or aggressive chemical ions into the concrete, facilitating its deterioration. The present research program was undertaken primarily to study the effect of the crack width on the transport of chlorides in the concrete, which eventually leads to corrosion of the reinforcing steel.;The experimental work consisted of casting cylindrical concrete samples, which were later subjected to a tensile stress to induce transverse cracking in the samples. Cracks of varying widths were produced on all the specimens (0mm i.e. two specimens were left not cracked, 0.1mm, 0.5mm, 1.0mm, and 1.5mm). (Abstract shortened by UMI.). |
