Application of Interval Analysis to Assess Concrete Cover Degradation in Accelerated Corrosion Tests

Abstract

This paper presents the application of interval algebra in affine formulation to assess damage propagation in test reinforced concrete elements subjected to accelerated corrosion of rebar, taking into account the uncertainty of parameters. Corrosion interactions were captured by introducing the interval tensor of the velocity of volumetric strain. Analysis of the model for limit values of velocities of volumetric strains (inf(ε¯˙V) and sup(ε¯˙V)) using the finite element method for locally and gradient-formulated concrete models with degradation, elastic, and elastic–plastic was conducted using ANSYS and ATENA software. Computer calculations were performed assuming a parameter uncertainty of 0, 10, and 20%. The results of the calculations were compared with the results of detailed tests of elements subjected to accelerated corrosion of reinforcement using an electrolyzer with full monitoring of the electrical parameters of the system. The obtained results of the calculations were verified using the Monte Carlo method, treating the model parameters as random variables with a uniform distribution.