Critical Analysis of Experiments on Reinforcing Bar Corrosion in Cracked Concrete

Cracks in concrete are expected to accelerate the degradation of reinforced concrete—mainly reinforcement corrosion. Previous literature studies have shown that the initiation time can decrease due to cracks, whereas the accelerating effect on corrosion propagation has no clear experimental evidence. This paper critically assesses how different common experimental setups may influence the test results. It is found that, particularly, the exposure duration and condition, the water-binder ratio (w/b), and the crack width have an impact on the outcome of the experimental study about corrosion rates in cracked concrete. Hence, these parameters should be carefully considered when designing experiments to study the influence of cracks. Recommendations for future research work are given