Concrete crack modeling due to nonuniform corrosion using smeared approach

Numbers of researchers has been conducted the finite element analysis to predict cracks due to corrosion and assumed the corrosion as uniform expansive pressure. However, the analysis cannot reflect actual stress and crack occur in concrete. The corrosion volume could be bigger in several point at interface between concrete and steel bar. This condition causes the concentrate stress and gives different response with the uniform expansive pressure assumption. This study developed series of finite element model to study the crack propagation of the concrete due to non-uniform corrosion. The analysis is conducted with Abaqus finite element program used smeared cracking approach. Reinforced concrete was modeled in 2D using the Zhao experiment at edge section. This paper also discusses the effect of usage a deformed reinforcement to the spread of rust and crack pattern. Based on this study, the result of finite element modeling shows fairly good agreement with experimental data. It also shows that the usage of deformed reinforcement affect the non-uniformities level of the rust and cause the crack pattern at the concrete propagate differently compared with concrete which use plain reinforcement.