Simulación mecánica de la corrosión de armaduras en elementos de hormigón

Mechanical simulation of rebar corrosion in concrete elements

In this work an original procedure to simulate the expansion produced by rebar corrosion in concrete elements is shown. In this procedure, the main rebar is replaced by a mechanical defive wih adjustable diameter, which is encased in the concrete of the specimen. With this method the main difficulties that appear in commonly used procedures can be surmounted: mechanical phenomena are isloated from corrosion parameters; a very accurate control of the expansion and a great mechanical stability of the system are obtained. Moreover, from the experimental results, after the device has been gauged, the mean readial pressure between the concrete and the rebar can be easily induced. Peculiarities of the design, lining up, gauging and first experimental results obtained from such method are shown here as well as the contrast with numerical results and future applications.