Concrete Repair, Rehabilitation and Retrofitting II Alexander et al (eds)

2009 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-46850-3

Corroded RC beam repaired with near-surface mounted CFRP rods

Amjad Kreit, Firas Al-Mahmoud, Arnaud Castel & Raoul Francois
Universit de Toulouse, UPS, INSA, LMDC (Laboratoire Matriaux et Durabilit des Constructions), Toulouse
(cedex 4), France

ABSTRACT: This experimental program aims to investigate the possibility to repair RC corroded beams by
using NSM CFRP rods. The corroded tested beam was stored in a chloride environment during 23 years under
service loading. The repaired corroded beam was tested in 3-points-flexure up to failure. Then, the real local
tension steel cross-section distribution was measured. The maximum steel cross-section reduction was equal
to about 40% and was located at mid-span. The repaired beam bearing capacity was equal to the one of the
23 years old non corroded control beam.

INTRODUCTION

Steel corrosion of reinforced concrete leads to several

major defects: firstly a reduction in the cross-section
area of the steel bar and in the ductility which leads
to a premature bars failure (Andrade et al. 1991;
Almusallam 2001; Castel et al. 2000 1&2). Secondly
the expansion of the corrosion products leads to concrete cracking and spalling, then to the deterioration
of the bond.
Since years 8090, strengthening techniques by
using fiber-reinforced-polymer FRP laminates are
developed. FRP materials present better mechanical,
physical and chemical properties than the ones of the
steel. The applications of FRP materials for retrofitting and strengthening of existing concrete structures
have been rapidly growing in the world (Meier et al.
1992, Steiner 1996, Nanni 1997, Matthys et al. 2004,
Blasi et al. 2004, Rostasy et al. 2004, Labossire
et al. 1997, Hazen et al. 1998, Grace & Sayed
Abdel 2003; Ichimasu et al. 1993, Katsumata et al.
2001; AL-Mahmoud et al. 2007). FRP rods used to
strengthen RC structures are currently emerging as a
new technology in order to increase their bending or
shear strength. This technique is known as Near Surface Mounted reinforcement (NSM). This technique
is generally used to strengthen reinforced concrete
structures in flexure including shear aspect (Hassan &
Rizkalla 20032004, De Lorenzis et al. 20002004,
Alkhrdaji et al. 2001, Nordin et al. 2001, Nanni et al.
2004 and Rosenboom et al. 2004).
The use of FRP rods to repair and strengthen infrastructure damaged by steel corrosion is very recent.
Little information is available in the literatures
(Soudki et al. 19982008).

The experimental work presented in this paper aims

to study the possibility of repairing a RC corroded
beam corroded naturally since 1984 at the Laboratory
of Materials and Construction Durability (L.M.D.C.)
by using Near Surface Mounted CFRP rods.

EXPERIMENTAL CONTEXT

A long-term experimental program was initiated in

1984 at the Laboratory of Materials and Construction Durability (L.M.D.C.). The aim was to improve
the comprehension of the steel corrosion process in
reinforced concrete elements and its incidence on the
structural performance. This important research project thus consisted in casting a set of 72 reinforced
concrete beams (300 28 15 cm). These elements
of current size in construction industry were stored
in a chloride environment under service load to take
into account the influence of the flexural cracks on
corrosion process. At different stages, experimental
studies were performed on beams to assess the development of flexural and corrosion cracking, to measure chloride content and to analyse the evolution of
the mechanical behaviour (Castel et al. 2000), (Vidal
et al. 2007).
The natural aggressive environment was a salt fog
(35 g/l of NaCl) generated through the use of four
sprays located in each upper corner of a confined
room. After 6 years of storage, the beams were submitted to wetting-drying cycles in order to accelerate
the corrosion process:
0 to 6 years: continuous spraying under laboratory
conditions (T020C);

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 6 to 9 years: cycles spraying under laboratory

conditions (T020C), one week of spraying and
one week of drying;
9 to 19 years: cycles spraying, one week of spraying and one week of drying, however the confined
room was transferred outside, so the beams were
exposed to the temperature of the south-west of
France climate;
17 to 23 years: cycles were stopped; the beams were
still stored in the confined room and exposed to the
temperature of the south-west of France climate.
Although this is an accelerated version of the real
process, the corrosion obtained was much closer to
that actually observed in natural conditions, with
respect to corrosion distribution, corrosion type and
the oxides produced, than those resulting from use
of an impressed current or a CaCl2 admixture in
concrete.
The beams were divided in two groups, the type A
and type B beams, which had different reinforcements
lay-out, but used the same ordinary reinforcing
steel (yield stress = 500 MPa). Beams A and B corresponded to a 40 mm and 10 mm concrete cover
respectively. According to French regulations at the
time of manufacturing (BAEL 1983), 40 mm corresponded to the minimum concrete cover in very
aggressive environment (i.e.: chlorides aggression)
and 10 mm corresponded to the minimum concrete
cover in non-aggressive environment.
The beams were loaded in 3-points flexure by coupling a type A beam with a type B beam. Two loading
values were applied: Mser1 = 14 kN . m (Beams noted
A1 and B1) and Mser2 = 21 kN . m (Beams noted A2
and B2). In order to perform a comparative study, 36
control beams have been cast in 1984. These beams
have the same concrete compositions and reinforcement layout and were stored under the same sustained
load but in a 60% of R.H. and 20C laboratory room.
The beams studied in this paper are two B2 beams.

One corroded beam called BCor and a control beam

called BT1. The layout of the reinforcement is presented in figure 1.
For these beams, Mser1 corresponds to about 50%
of the failure load; the maximum stress in the tensile
steels s was 240 MPa (Ultimate limit state design
in non-aggressive environment according to French
standards). Mser2 corresponds to about 80% of the
failure load; the maximum stress in the tensile steels
s was 380 MPa (about two times the Serviceability
limit state design in chloride environment according
to French standards).

3
3.1

MATERIALS
Properties of concrete

Concrete mix and cement chemical composition are

given in table 1. The Water/Cement ratio was 0.5 but
the water content was adjusted (i.e. 0.49 or 0.48) to
obtain a constant workability of 7 cm in slump test.
The average compression stress and the elastic modulus obtained on cylinder specimens were
respectively 45 MPa and 32 GPa at 28 days. The tensile strength, measured using the splitting test, was
4.7 MPa. Porosity was 15.2% (Table 2).
The concrete strengths in compression and traction
in 2007 (average values on three cores) have significantly increased compared to the ones at 28 days. To
measure the concrete characteristics, 7 mm diameter
cores were drilled on each beam and were tested in
compression and tension (Table 2).
3.2 Properties of steel
The reinforcing cages were composed of naturally
Fe40 type half-hard steels; ordinary ribbed reinforcing
steel bars are used with yield stress equal to 500 MPa.
3.3 Properties of CFRP rods

Ribbed 6mm

2 12mm

1cm
1cm
28cm

300cm

14 Stirrups
6mm

2 6mm

6mm/220cm

Ribbed 12mm
15cm

Figure 1. Lay-out of the reinforcement (all dimensions in cm)

for type B beams.

One CFRP rod was used to repair the corroded beam:

carbon-epoxy pultruded FRP with 6 mm diameter.
This rod is made by the Soficar Company in France.
The modulus of elasticity and tensile strength of the
CFRP rods were assessed by laboratory testing and
are equal to 146 GPa and 1875 MPa respectively.
To modify the surface of the initially smooth rods
in order to enhance the bond with the filling material, a surface sanding treatment was applied (fig. 2).
The smooth CFRP rods were coated with 0.2/0.3 mm
sand by sprinkling it on to a thin layer of freshly
applied epoxy resin. This method was developed by
the Freyssinet Company.

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Table 1.

Concrete mix and cement chemical composition.

Mix component
Rolled gravel (silica + limestone)
Sand
Portland Cement OPC HP (high
perform.)
Water

1093 kg/m3
734 kg/m3

5/15 mm
0/5 mm

358 kg/m3
179 kg/m3

Cement composition

Table 2.

SiO2

Al2O3

Fe2O3

CaO

MgO

SO3

Na2O

Weight

21.4

6.0

2.3

63.0

1.4

3.0

0.5

4.1

Mechanical characteristics of the concrete.

Compression
strength (MPa)
Traction
strength (MPa)
Elastic modulus (GPa)

1984

2007

After-28 days

Corroded beam

45.00

52.65

4.70
32.00

5.44
36.93

The cracking map of BCor beam after 23 years of

chloride exposure was drawn with the exact locations
of flexural transverse cracks and longitudinal corrosion cracking. The crack widths were also measured
using a binocular lens with an accuracy of 0.02 mm.
4.2

E=146 GPa
u=1875 MPa

Figure 2.
beam.

3.4

Sanded CFRP rod used to repair the corroded

Properties of filling material

The filling material is an epoxy resin (Eponal380).

After 7 days, the compressive and tensile strengths
are 83 and 29.5 MPa respectively. The elastic modulus is 4.9 GPa.

Cracking map

The Near Surface Mounted (NSM) technique is

performed by cutting several lines into the concrete
cover in the longitudinal direction at the tension side of the beam as presented in figure 3a.
A special concrete saw with a diamond blade was used.
The remaining concrete lugs formed by sawing the
concrete surface were then removed using a hammer and hand chisel so that the lower surface became
rough (fig. 3b). The grooves were cleaned of any dust
using air-brushing pressure to remove debris and fine
particles so as to ensure proper bonding between the
filling material and the concrete. Then, the groove was
half filled and the CFRP rod was then placed inside
and lightly pressed. This forced the filling material to
flow around the CFRP rod. More filling material was
applied to completely fill the groove and the surface
was leveled (fig. 3c).
The beam was tested after one week to ensure the
filling material strength. The groove was 9 mm deep
(only 10 mm of concrete cover for type B beams) and
15 mm large (around two times the rod diameter).
4.3

EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM

Two beams was tested in this experimental study, a

control beam BT1 and a beam naturally corroded
BCor. BT1, the control beam was not strengthened;
BCor was repaired by using one near surface mounted
CFRP Rod.

Near Surface Mounted technique

Implementation of the NSM rod in the beams

Figure 4 shows the location of the concrete damage

in the beam cross-section due to the expansion of
the corrosion products. The corrosion damages are
mainly characterised by a concrete cracking which
propagates along the longitudinal steel reinforcing
bars. Then, the concrete located at each corner of the

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the middle of the cross-section in the tension area,

as shown in figure 4. The total length of the NSM
rod is equal to 270 cm, which means that the repair is
stopped just before the supports. Indeed, in practice,
it can be not possible to access to the zone located
under the supports.
Finally, control beam BT1 is the reference reinforced concrete beam without corrosion or CFRP
strengthening.

Residual roots

Concrete lugs
9mm
12mm

Concrete

a) Concrete is sawn

Concrete
b) Lugs are removed

Filling Material

6mmCFRP Rod
Concrete
c) Rod is embedded in the groove

4.4

The two beams were tested up to failure under a

monotonic increasing load in three-points-flexure.
The global behaviour is analysed through the study
of the mid-span deflection. This mid-span deflection
was measured by using a 100 mm capacity LVDT displacement sensor with an accuracy of 0.01 mm.

4.5

Near Surface Mounted (NSM) procedure.

28cm

Beam
BCor

1cm

Damaged
Concrete
CFRP Rod
6mm
1.5cm
13.25cm 13.25cm
15cm

Steel reinforcement corrosion

The distributions of the local steel cross-section

reduction along both tensile bars of the corroded
beam were measured after the mechanical test up to
failure. To assess the corrosion damage, concrete was
completely removed from reinforcement. The steel
cross-section reduction is assessed from the reinforcement mass loss. Reference mass of reinforcement
per unit of length was measured using parts of bar
in non-corroded areas. In corroded areas, the residual
mass per unit of length of the sample was evaluated
after the complete removal of the corrosion products
(using a Clarks solution ANSI/ASTM G1-72) and
then related to the reference mass.
The average reinforcement mass loss per unit of
length m was then calculated. In the case of local
pitting attacks, the length of the samples can be inferior to 5 mm. The steel cross-section loss was finally
deduced from the loss of mass using the relation (1):

1cm

Figure 3.

Mechanical experiments

m
AS = AS
m

Resin

Figure 4. Location of the NSM 6 mm diameter rod in the

tensile area of the corroded beam BCor.

cross-section areas is often completely broken or at

least significantly damaged. On the contrary, the concrete located far from the reinforcing bars is not significantly concerned by the steel bars corrosion.
As a result, assuming that the concrete is still of
a good quality, the NSM rod was be implemented in

(1)

where AS the average steel cross-section loss (mm2)

on the sample length; AS the sound steel cross-section
(mm2); and m is the reference mass per unit of length
(g/ml).

5
5.1

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
Cracking map

The cracking map of each face of the beam BCor

is presented in figure 5 after 23 years of exposure
in saline environment. Flexural transversal cracks,

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the maximum. As a result, about 40% reduction in the

bearing capacity can be expected in comparison to the
control beam BT1. Of course, this assumption could
not be confirmed by the mechanical experiments as
the beam BCor was repaired before to be tested up
to failure. But, According to previous studies (Castel
et al. 2000 1 & 2), the loss of bearing capacity is equal
to the reduction in steel-cross section if located at the
maximum bending moment area.

Front surface

CFRP Rod 6 mm
Tension surface

15 cm

270 cm

15 cm

Back surface

Compression surface
300 cm

Figure 5. Cracking map of beam BCor after 23 years in

saline environment (crack widths in mm).

5.3

Mechanical experiments

Figure 7 shows the deflection-bending moment

curves obtained for the two beams. Both beams were
already cracked due to their ageing condition under

Location of the
maximum Steel
loss

Point B

Point C

Point A
Point O

Figure 6. Distributions of local steel cross-section reductions along both tensile bars after 23 years.
Figure 7. Bending moment-deflection curves obtained for
the two beams.

which result from the 3-points-flexure, appeared in

the tensile central part of the beam where stresses
exceeded concrete tensile strength. Their widths were
not specified on the maps. Only the longitudinal corrosion crack widths were indicated. The location of
the NSM CFRP rod along the span is also shown
in figure 5. After 23 years of chloride exposure, the
beam is highly corroded. Corrosion cracks in the tension area at mid-span, where the bending moment is
the maximum, reach more than 3 mm width. In the
compression area, corrosion cracks also reached
about 3 mm width but a larger proportion of the tensile zone shows high concrete corrosion damage in
comparison to the compressive zone.
5.2

Steel reinforcements corrosion

The distribution of local steel cross-section reductions along both tensile bars of the corroded beam
is presented in figure 6. The maximum average
cross-section reduction on both tension reinforcing
bars was equal to 36.3% (in percentage of total initial cross-section 226 mm2). This maximum crosssection loss was located about 20 cm away from the
mid-span, then almost where the bending moment is

Figure 8. BCor beam failure mode.

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sustained loading since 1984. Tensile steel yielding

moment was 25 kN m and 31 kN m respectively
for beams BCor and BT1. The ultimate moment was
37 kN m for BCor and 36 kN m for the control
beam BT1.
For beam BT1, failure is due to the concrete crushing in the compressive zone. For beam BCor, the
failure was due to the shear failure of the old concrete
at the level of the NSM rod and no concrete crushing
was observed (fig. 8).

40% reduction in steel cross-section due to corrosion.

For BCor, the ultimate deflection measured is significantly lower than the control beam BT1. This reduction in ductility is due to the presence of the NSM
CFRP rods which, in the one hand, allow increase
the bearing capacity, but on the other hand, limit the
steel and concrete strains. Indeed, the behavior of the
CFRP rod is elastic linear until the failure (no yielding phase).

7
6
6.1

Global behavior description

The global behavior of the corroded beam BCor (with

NSM rod) is divided in two main phases. In a first
phase (point O to point A), the bending momentdeflection curve is linear. Point A corresponds to
the tensile steel yielding point. Indeed, as the beams
were already cracked due to a high sustained loading
level, no additional bending cracks occurred. During this first stage, both the steel and the CFRP rod
work. On the contrary, during the second stage (point
A to point B), the tensile steel is yielded, and then
only the CFRP rod contributes to carry the increasing
bending moment. That is why the slop of the linear
curves is significantly reduced in comparison to the
previous stage. Point C is the failure. Between points
B and C, the curve is not linear any more probably
due to the starting of the shear failure of the tension
concrete where the NSM was performed.
The global behavior of the control beam BT1
(without NSM rods) corresponds to a typical precracked reinforced concrete beam behavior.
6.2

Steel yielding bending moment

Even repaired with the NSM rod, the corroded beam

yielding moment is still 20% lower than the control beam one due to the steel cross-section reduction resulting from the chloride induced corrosion.
Indeed, the carbon cross-section added is not enough
for the total compensation of the steel loss due to the
corrosion.
6.3

CONCLUSION

RESULTS DISCUSSION

Ultimate capacity

Contrary to the yielding moment, the ultimate moment

measured on the corroded repaired beam BCor is
slightly higher than the one of the beam BT1. This
result shows the efficiency of the NSM technique to
repair corroded RC members subjected to flexure as
the ultimate capacity obtained is similar to the one
of the control reinforced concrete member even for

NSM (6 mm diameter) CFRP rod allows to increase

significantly the load bearing capacity of corroded
beams. Indeed, the corroded beam with about 40%
steel cross-section reduction shows the same ultimate
capacity than the control beam.
A reduction in ductility (ultimate deflection) was
observed on the repaired corroded beam in comparison to the control element.
The NSM technique seems to be efficient to repair
corroded beams. But, the possibility to place the NSM
rods depends on the quality and the location of the
concrete cover not damaged by the steel corrosion.

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