The Eurocode 2 and the assessment of concrete structures with corroded reinforcement

The reinforcement corrosion is one of the major problems with relevant economic impact in the life cycle of concrete structures and that is why it is necessary to optimize the repair strategies in corroded structures. However, almost no international codes are available for structural evaluation and some criteria will be included in the revision of Eurocode 2 to evaluate existing deteriorated structures. A summary of Contecvet project funded EC is presented in this paper as well as some more recent developments. A first step in the evaluation of existing structures is to identify if the aggressive has reached the reinforcement and how much has affected to the structural performance. As soon as the corrosion rate has been calculated from the data taken in the structure, it is possible to estimate the rate of the structural deterioration process through the developed models and the remaining service life. Some models and expressions are summarized to estimate the residual bearing capacity of concrete structures with corroded reinforcement to be considered when drafting the new Eurocode 2