Seismic performance analysis of coastal reinforced concrete frames considering the pitting corrosion in the longitudinal reinforcement bars

Reinforcement corrosion is a major factor that influences the durability of reinforced concrete (RC) structures. In this study, the detrimental effects of pitting corrosion of longitudinal reinforcement and the dominant wind direction on the seismic performance of RC frame structures were investigated on the basis of a reliable numerical simulation method, which considers the degraded mechanical properties of the longitudinal reinforcement, confined concrete and bond-slip under a chloride ion attack. Two typical collapse failure modes, namely, column and beam failure modes, are observed in the corroded frames with increasing service time. The column failure mode is caused by the failure of compressive reinforcement for the bottom column. Meanwhile, the beam failure mode is caused by the failure of tensile reinforcement for the frame beam. The collapse failure mode of the structure changes from the column failure mode to the beam failure mode with increasing service time. Moreover, this transition is more likely to occur, and the ultimate deformation capacity of the structure is further reduced when the effects of pitting corrosion and wind direction are simultaneously considered.