Effect of local bond behavior degradation on tension stiffness in reinforced concrete with pre-existing longitudinal cracks

Reinforced concrete structures often have cracks when exposed to corrosion of rebars. This induced crack can deteriorate the bond capacity between concrete and rebar, affecting the structural performance of the member. This study conducted pull-out and uniaxial tension tests on cracked specimens to investigate the effect of bond behavior degradation on the tension stiffening effect. It uses an innovative approach to simulate concrete cracking by inserting an aluminum pipe into the concrete and filling it with an expansion agent to replicate the volumetric expansion caused by rebar corrosion. The local bond-slip behavior degradation is modeled using Popovics formulation based on pull-out cracked bond specimens. Furthermore, uniaxial tension tests reveal that induced cracks decrease transverse crack numbers and reduce the tension stiffening effect, primarily due to bond loss. However, this degradation becomes insignificant after a total deformation of 1.5 mm, corresponding to about 0.1% in average strain. Finally, analytical results confirm that tension stiffness does not necessarily decrease with increased induced crack width. Instead, the tension stiffness may increase in case of high bond loss due to induced crack.