Effect of Corrosion Rate of Stirrups on Seismic Performance of Reinforced Concrete Columns

It is essential to properly understand the seismic behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) columns confined by stirrups that experience different corrosion rates. The current study investigated the effect of seismic performance indicators such as strength loss, energy dissipation rate, ductility and hysteresis damping on specimens and models for different stirrup corrosion rates. Analysis revealed the adverse effects of corrosion on the bond performance between the concrete and steel bars which affected the seismic performance of the columns. It was observed that severe corrosion of the stirrups undermined confinement of the concrete core and caused the seismic response to degrade. This changed the failure mode from a ductile to a brittle state. As the corrosion rate of the stirrups increased, their ductility and energy dissipation capacity decreased such that the amount of decrease depended on the corrosion rate. An attenuation relationship is proposed for the corrosion rate of the stirrups for different stirrup yield strengths, concrete compressive strengths, concrete covers and stirrup spacing. The values estimated by the proposed relationship were shown to be in acceptable agreement with the analytical results.