EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE STRUCTURAL BEHAVIOR OF REINFORCED CONCRETE FRAMES EXPOSED TO CORROSION UNDER THE EFFECT OF CYCLE LOADING

Reinforcement bar corrosion occurs in reinforced concrete structures as a result of various environmental effects. Corrosion causes the structures to move away from the performance levels targeted during the design phase and reduces the service life of reinforced concrete structures. Within the scope of the thesis study carried out to investigate the effects of reinforcement corrosion on reinforced concrete frames, 5 reinforced concrete frame specimens were constructed. The corrosion process of reinforced concrete frames was carried out using accelerated corrosion method. The actual corrosion ratio were obtained by gravimetric study after chemical and mechanical cleaning of the reinforcement extracting from the concrete after the loading tests. When the studies carried out on corroded specimens are analyzed, it is seen that researchers consider different corrosion ratio (stirrup corrosion ratio, longitudinal reinforcement corrosion ratio, maximum corrosion ratio, average corrosion ratio, etc.). This situation causes contradictory results in the verification of the models obtained by using corroded specimens. In this context, a total of 13 different corrosion ratio were obtained by considering corrosion ratio on reinforcement (combination of stirrups and longitudinal reinforcement) and specimen basis (combination of column and beam elements). The yield strength, ductility ratio, stiffness degradation and energy dissipation capacity values of the specimens were estimated by considering the experimental models developed from the column and frame studies in the literature. From the results of the experimental study, it was determined that the yield strength, stiffness values and energy absorption capacities of reinforced concrete frame specimens decreased with increasing corrosion rate. In the present study, it was revealed that there are contradictions between the ductility ratios obtained by considering energy-based and actual corrosion ratio and the data obtained by considering displacement-based and theoretical corrosion ratio in the literature.