Impact of Cyclic Loading and Corrosion on the Deflections of Reinforced Concrete Beams

During the service-life of Reinforced Concrete (RC) bridges, the deflections and the natural frequencies of the bridge change. It was considered that damage in a RC bridge results in changes in the deflections and in the natural frequencies of the bridge. Since these changes could be obtained by a Structural Health Monitoring system, the popularity of such system is increasing. It is, however, uncertain how the deflections and the natural frequencies of RC bridges change during their total service-life. It is also uncertain how damage in a RC bridge changes the deflections and the natural frequencies of the bridge. To obtain information about changes in the deflections of a RC beam during its total service-life, laboratory tests have been conducted. 24 RC beams have been loaded dynamically in a four-point-bending configuration. The deflections of the RC beams have been measured from the first cycle until failure. To investigate the impact of corrosion in the reinforcing bar on the fatigue failure mechanism of the RC beam, corrosion was simulated in the reinforcing bar of 12 of the 24 RC beams. The reinforcing bars of the other 12 RC beams were uncorroded. The setup of the tests and the deflections of the RC beams with and without corrosion in the reinforcing bar are presented in this paper.