SEISMIC BEHAVIOR OF REINFORCED CONCRETE COLUMNS DAMAGED BY CORROSION

Change in the environmental conditions is one of the challenging factors that can severely affect the deterioration processes of the reinforced concrete structures (RCS), modifying their seismic capacity in an unexpectedly short period. The main corrosion consequences on RCS are: (i) concrete cracking and decay of its compressive strength, (ii) modification of the bond-slip law between reinforcement and concrete, (iii), variation in the tension-stiffening effects, (iv) cross-section reduction of steel reinforcements and decay of their mechanical properties. The present paper is focused on the investigation of the main aspects to account in numerical models for simulating the seismic behavior of corroded reinforced concrete columns. The obtained results are compared with experimental results on the structural performance of corroded reinforced concrete columns subjected to cyclic loads. Fragility curves for the selected corroded columns are finally derived, following a conventional approach.