Corrosion resistance of self-consolidating concrete in full-scale reinforced beams

The corrosion of steel reinforcement embedded in full-scale self-consolidating concrete (SCC) beams was investigated compared to normal concrete (NC). 400 mm width × 363 mm depth × 2340 mm length beams containing epoxy- and non-epoxy-coated stirrups were monitored under an accelerated corrosion test. The corrosion performance of NC/SCC beams was evaluated based on the results of current measurement, half-cell potential tests, chloride ion content, mass loss and bar diameter degradation. The investigation also included the effect of admixture type and the size of specimen on corrosion performance. In general, SCC beams showed superior performance compared to their NC counterparts in terms of corrosion cracking, corrosion development rate, half-cell potential values, rebar mass loss and rebar diameter reduction. However, SCC beams showed localized corrosion with concrete spalling due to non-uniform concrete properties along the length, which was a result of the casting technique. The results also showed that the difference between SCC and NC mixes in terms of corrosion was more pronounced in large-scale beams, and that types of admixture used in SCC have no influence on corrosion performance.