Time-dependent safety performance of reinforced concrete structures

Abstract

Purpose: Performance of the structure depends on design, construction, environment, utilization and reliability aspects. Other factors can be controlled by adopting proper design and construction techniques, but the environmental factors are difficult to control. Hence, mostly in practice, the environmental factors are not considered in the analysis and design appropriately; however, their impact on the performance of the structures is significant along with the design life. It is in this light that this paper aims to perform the time-dependent performance analysis of reinforced concrete structures majorly considering environmental factors. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve the intended objective, a simply supported reinforced concrete beam was designed and detailed as per the Euro Code (EC2). The time-dependent design parameters, corrosion parameters, creep and shrinkage were identified through thorough literature review. The common empirical equations were modified to consider the identified parameters, and finally, the time-dependent performance of reinforced concrete beam was performed. Findings: Findings indicate that attention has to be paid to appropriate consideration of the environmental effect on reinforced concrete structures. In that, the time-dependent performance of reinforced concrete beam significantly decreases with time due to corrosion of reinforcement steel, creep and shrinkage. Originality/value: However, the Euro code, Ethiopian code and Indian code threat the exposure condition of reinforced concrete by providing corresponding concrete cover that retards the corrosion initiation time but does not eliminate environmental effects. The results of this study clearly indicate that the capacity of reinforced concrete structure degrades with time due to corrosion and creep, whereas the action on the structure due to shrinkage increases. Therefore, appropriate remedial measures have to be taken to control the defects of structures due to the environmental factors to overcome the early failure of the structure. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.