Crack development of rebar rust in rubberized concrete using mesoscale model

Reinforcement rust will lead to cracking of rubberized concrete and reduce durability of rubberized concrete structure. Therefore, the fracture morphology of rubberized concrete, which is caused by corrosion and expansion of reinforcement in rubberized concrete is studied by means of meso numerical simulation. The results show that: (1) The fracture morphology of rubberized concrete is little affected by the thickness of the protective layer of reinforcement. (2) The occurrence timing of the inflection point of the rust expansion reaction around the reinforcement can reflect the difficulty of cracking rubberized concrete. (3) The smaller the thickness of the protective layer and the larger the diameter of the reinforcement, the more easily the rubberized concrete will crack. (4) The diameter of reinforcement will affect the expansion level of cracks in all directions. The increase of reinforcement diameter promotes the crack propagation degree in the direction of 180°, and inhibits the crack propagation degree near 90° and 270°. (5) The content of rubber affects the fracture morphology of reinforcement rust. As the content of rubber increases, the path of cracks formed inside the rubberized concrete decreases, and the penetration cracks inside the rubberized decrease. The results of this paper have guiding significance for the research of fracture morphology distribution and reaction force of rubberized concrete caused by reinforcement rust.