NONLINEAR BEHAVIOUR OF CORRODE RC COLUMNS UNDER CYCLIC LOADING

A new modelling technique is developed to model the nonlinear behaviour of corrosion damaged reinforced concrete (RC) bridge piers subject to cyclic loading. The model employs a nonlinear beamcolumn element with multi-mechanical fibre section using OpenSees. The nonlinear uniaxial material models used in the fibre section account for the effect of corrosion damage on vertical reinforcing, cracked cover concrete due to corrosion of vertical bars and damaged confined concrete due to corrosion of horizontal tie reinforcement. An advanced material model is used to simulate the nonlinear behaviour of vertical reinforcing bars that accounts for combined impact of inelastic buckling and low-cycle fatigue degradation. The basic uncorroded model is verified by comparison of the computation and observed response of RC columns with uncorroded reinforcement. This model is used in an exploration study of recently tested reinforced concrete components to investigate the impact of different corrosion models on the inelastic response of corrosion damaged RC column.