Shear Response Behavior of Slender RC Beams with Corroded Stirrups

The corrosion of steel reinforcement in reinforced concrete beams is cause of several structural-damage effects. When corrosion distresses stirrups, the shear response is drastically affected. The corrosion of stirrups produces rust all around causing reduction of cross-section steel rebar and spalling of concrete cover. This study presents a theoretical model to reproduce the shear response of reinforced concrete slender beams with corroded stirrups. The formulation extends an established procedure, based on the Modified Compression Field Theory, and, introducing the structural effects of stirrups corrosion, provides the entire load-displacement curve. Information about crack condition and compression field inclination at each stage of loading are also obtained. Firstly, the proposed model is assessed against a database of sixty-two specimens collected in the literature; then, it is used for a parametric analysis to highlight the role of the parameters involved.