The corrosion fatigue behaviour of reinforced-concrete beams in seawater has been found to be dependent in a complex manner upon the fatigue-cycle frequency. Thus, under short-duration high-frequency loading conditions, the expected reduction in the number of cycles to failure, compared to air-fatigue tests, has been observed. But, in long-term experiments at 0.17 Hz, another factor, associated with deposition of salts within cracks in the concrete, has been found to influence the behaviour of the beams. Under some of the experimental conditions of this study, such crack blocking has been observed to lead to much reduced rates of fatigue deterioration by causing a reduction in the stress amplitude in the reinforcing bars. However, the crack blocking has not been found to inhibit localised corrosion processes on the bars and significant metal wastages have occurred during the long-term experiments.

Subject
Corrosion fatigue, Water, Rebar, Corrosion cracking, Stress cracking, Seawater, Mechanical failure, Deflection, Steel, Reinforced concrete, Jackets, Concrete, Electrode potential
© 1983 Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of AMPP. Positions and opinions advanced in this work are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AMPP. Responsibility for the content of the work lies solely with the author(s).
1983
Association for Materials Protection and Performance (AMPP)
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