Composites Part B 165 (2019) 679–689

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Composites Part B
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compositesb

In-situ monitoring of corrosion-induced expansion and mass loss of steel bar T

in steel fiber reinforced concrete using a distributed fiber optic sensor
Liang Fana, Yi Baob,∗, Weina Mengb, Genda Chena
a
Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO, 65401, USA
b
Department of Civil, Environmental and Ocean Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, 07030, USA

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Corrosion causes mass loss of steel bars, concrete cracking, and interface degradation in reinforced concrete,
Corrosion monitoring highly compromising the safety and durability of civil infrastructure. This research proposes a smart reinforced
Distributed fiber optic sensor concrete instrumented with a distributed fiber optic sensor for in-situ monitoring, presents an innovative method
Reinforced concrete to quantify mass loss of steel bar using unique distributed sensor data, and studies corrosion-induced expansion
Steel fiber
of steel bar in steel fiber reinforced concrete. Electrochemical test and the distributed sensor data were used to
understand the corrosion deterioration process of the steel-concrete composite. Effect of the steel fiber on the
deterioration process is evaluated under different concrete surface conditions, and the underlying mechanisms
are investigated. The results indicate that steel fibers reduced the corrosion rate of steel bars by mitigating
electron transfer from the steel bar, delaying concrete cracking, and limiting the crack width. The effect of
concrete surface defects shows a transition phenomenon. This research gains insights into the corrosion dete-
rioration mechanism and strategies for improving the long-term durability of steel-concrete composite.

1. Introduction
A thin (∼20 nm) layer of ferric oxides forms on the surface of steel
reinforcement under high alkaline (typically pH > 12) pore solution in
concrete [1], and acts as a passive film that prevents diffusion of oxygen
and water to the electrochemically reactive steel. The passive film is
protective for the steel reinforcement regarding to electrochemical
corrosion. Carbonation of the concrete reduces the alkalinity, so it is
detrimental to the passive film [2]. Besides, ingress of chloride ions
from the environment (e.g. sea water for coastal infrastructure or de-
icing salt for transportation infrastructure) can destroy the passive film
and accelerate corrosion [3]. The corrosion causes mass loss and re-
duces the effective section of steel bars, consequently degrading the
structure [4]. More importantly, since the volume of the corrosion
products is considerably larger than the volume of pristine steel, the
rust exerts pressure to the surrounding concrete and induce internal
tensile stresses that in turn cause concrete cracking [5,6]. The concrete
cracks not only further reduce the load-carrying capacity of the struc-
ture, but also facilitate the transport of water and corrosive ions in the
concrete, significantly accelerating the corrosion [7]. In engineering
practice, there are many causes for cracks in concrete, such as
shrinkage, thermal gradient, mechanical loadings, etc. To ensure ap-
propriate durability of reinforced concrete, regulations have been
issued to limit the crack width. For example, the AASHTO Manual of
Bridge Element Inspections [8] suggests that the ‘good’ condition of
concrete bridge decks corresponds to a crack width no larger than
0.31 mm.
Steel fibers have been widely used to prepare high-performance
fiber-reinforced cementitious composites with improved tensile and
flexural strength [9,10], enhanced crack resistance [11], reduced
shrinkage [12,13], and limited crack width [14]. The steel fibers are
typically coated with copper to enhance the corrosion resistance.
However, it remains unclear how the steel fibers affect the long-term
durability of steel bars in cementitious composites. On one hand, the
steel fibers help increase the crack resistance by bridging cracks in the
matrix [15], which tends to improve the corrosion resistance. On the
other hand, the steel fibers may entrap more air in the matrix during
mixing and may increase the permeability of the concrete [16]; also,
the steel fibers introduce more interfaces that typically represent weak
locations that are more susceptible to cracks and transport of water and
ions [17,18]. Accelerated corrosion test was conducted through ap-
plying external potential to steel bars embedded in a concrete re-
inforced using hybrid (polyethylene and steel) fibers [19]. After the
test, no crack was observed on the specimen surface, and less mass loss
of the steel bar was measured compared with the specimen without any
fiber. As for the mechanism of improving the corrosion resistance, in

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: yi.bao@stevens.edu (Y. Bao).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesb.2019.02.051
Received 7 January 2019; Received in revised form 12 February 2019; Accepted 13 February 2019
Available online 14 February 2019
1359-8368/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
L. Fan, et al. Composites Part B 165 (2019) 679–689

addition to the increase of crack resistance by using the fibers, it was

envisioned that the randomly-distributed steel fibers in the concrete
matrix partially allocate the current applied to the steel bar and thus
mitigated the corrosion of the steel bars.
The influence of steel fibers on the corrosion of steel bars in cracked
strain-hardening cementitious composites was studied using cracked
concrete [20]. The specimens experienced three loading-unloading
cycles with a loading amplitude up to 70% of the ultimate load, and
then tested under a constant external potential for an accelerated cor-
rosion. The results indicated that the steel fibers retarded the corrosion
of the steel bars. Similar testing of pre-cracked concrete with polyvinyl
alcohol fibers and steel fibers corroborated the view that the fibers Fig. 1. Cross section of a telecommunication-grade single-mode fiber optic
could delay concrete cracking [21] and corrosion of steel bars [4,22]. cable with multiple layers.
The effect of crack width on the corrosion of the steel bars was also
investigated [23]. It was found that reducing the crack width via fiber
2.2. Sensing principle
bridging delayed the corrosion of steel bars. Also investigated were
fiber reinforced concrete beams under monotonic and cyclic loadings
PPP-BOTDA was used for measuring strain distributions from the
[24]. The beam tested under cyclic loading showed higher corrosion
optical fiber based on stimulated Brillouin scattering, which results
rates than the beam tested under monotonic loading. This was attrib-
from the interaction between acoustic waves and light waves in an
uted to interface debonding between the concrete and steel bar under
optical fiber. In a Brillouin optical time domain analysis (BOTDA), a
cyclic loading. Once debonding occurred, ingress of chloride sig-
pump pulse light wave and a probe continuous wave are beamed from
nificantly increased the corrosion rates [25]. While it is agreed that
the two ends of the optical fiber and counter-propagate along the op-
steel fibers may improve the corrosion resistance of concrete, a con-
tical fiber. When the frequency difference of the waves matches the
sensus of the underlying mechanism is not achieved yet. Such knowl-
Brillouin frequency of the optical fiber, Brillouin gain occurs and is
edge gap is associated with lack of effective tool for in-situ monitoring
measured from the backscattered light waves. The time of flight of the
of corrosion, in particular, for real-time assessment of the interface
backscattered light waves is used to determine the location of the
between steel and concrete.
scattering event, thus determining the spatially-distributed Brillouin
This research proposes a smart reinforced concrete instrumented
frequency shift. Compared with BOTDA, PPP-BOTDA uses a long-
with a distributed fiber optic sensor for in-situ monitoring, presents an
duration pre-pump pulse to stimulate acoustic waves prior to a short-
innovative method to quantify mass loss of steel bar using unique dis-
duration (0.2 ns) pulse to achieve a high spatial resolution (2 cm). The
tributed sensor data, and studies corrosion-induced expansion of steel
Brillouin frequency shift is associated with temperature and strain of
bar in steel fiber reinforced concrete. Electrochemical test and the
the optical fiber [28]:
distributed sensor data were used to understand the corrosion dete-
rioration process of the steel-concrete composite. A pulse pre-pump vB = C + CT T (1)
Brillouin optical time domain analysis (PPP-BOTDA) technology is used
where Cε and CT are the strain and temperature sensitivity coefficients,
to measure temperature and strain distributions along an optical fiber
respectively; Δε and ΔT are the strain and temperature changes, re-
[26–28]. The distributed fiber optic sensor was used to monitor cracks
spectively. In this study, experiments were conducted at constant room
in concrete pavement [29,30] and thermo-mechanical behaviors of
temperature (22 °C). The strain sensitivity coefficient was calibrated
steel and concrete [31,32]. Compared with conventional electro-
through tensile testing with a low-capacity load frame (model: Instron
chemical methods, the distributed fiber optic sensor allows real-time in-
5965, load capacity: 100 N) and a Neubrescope at room temperature
situ measurement, do not interfere with steel fibers, and robust in dif-
(22 °C), as described in Ref. [26].
ferent composite matrixes. In this study, the effect of steel fiber on the
deterioration process is experimentally evaluated through accelerated
corrosion testing under different concrete surface conditions, and the 3. Materials
underlying mechanisms are investigated [33]. This research gains in-
sights into corrosion deterioration mechanism and strategies for im- 3.1. Concrete
proving steel-concrete composite.
Three normal concrete mixtures were investigated, which are de-
signated as C1, C2, and C3, respectively, as listed in Table 1. The three
2. Distributed fiber optic sensor mixtures had the same mix proportion except for the different steel
fiber contents. The steel fiber contents of C1, C2, and C3 were 0%,
2.1. Fiber optic cable 0.5%, and 1.0%, respectively, by volume of concrete. Straight steel fi-
bers coated with a copper coating was used to improve the cracking
A telecommunication-grade single-mode fiber optic cable was used resistance of the concrete, as described in Ref. [35]. The fibers mea-
in this study. The cable was composed of a core (diameter: 8.2 μm), a sured 0.2 mm in diameter and 13 mm in length; the Young's modulus
cladding (outer diameter: 125 μm), an inner coating (outer diameter: and tensile strength were 1.9 GPa and 203 GPa, respectively. Type I
190 μm), an outer coating (outer diameter: 242 μm), and a buffer layer Portland cement was used to prepare the concrete with a water-to-ce-
(outer diameter: 880 μm), as illustrated in Fig. 1 [34]. The core and ment ratio of 0.5. The chemical composition was determined using the
cladding were made of high-purity fused silica; the inner and outer
coatings and the buffer layer were made of acrylic for mechanical Table 1
Mix design of the three concrete mixtures (kg/m3).
protection. Light waves travel along the optical fiber through total in-
ternal reflection at the core-cladding interface. The attenuation of light Designation Cement Water River sand Coarse aggregate Steel fiber
signal was no more than 0.2 dB/km at the wavelength of 1550 nm; the
C1 398.3 199.3 796.8 993.9 0
macro-bend loss was no more than 0.03 dB at one turn with a radium of
C2 396.3 198.3 792.8 988.9 39.1 (0.5%)
32 mm; the effective group index of refraction was 1.4679, as specified C3 394.3 197.3 788.8 983.9 78.1 (1%)
by the manufacturer.

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L. Fan, et al.
Table 2
Mass percentage of oxides in the cement.
SiO2 Al2O3 Fe2O3 CaO MgO SO3
19.8 4.5 3.2 64.2 2.7 3.4
Table 3
Mass percentage of crystalline phases in the cement.
Alite (C3S) Belite (C2S) Aluminate (C3A) Ferrite (C4AF)
3.2 64.2 2.7 3.4
X-ray flourescense (XRF) and quantitative X-ray diffraction (QXRD)
[36], as listed in Table 2 and Table 3, respectively.
Concrete specimens were prepared to evaluate the compressive and
tensile strengths, according to ASTM C39 [37] and ASTM C496 [38],
respectively. After concrete casting, the specimens were kept in mold
and covered with wet burlap and a plastic sheet for 24 h (h), and then
demolded and cured in a curing room until 28 days (d). The tempera-
ture and relatively humidity in the curing room were 22 °C ± 2 °C and
90% ± 5%, respectively. The 28-d compressive strengths of C1, C2,
and C3 were 39 MPa ± 1.4 MPa (mean value ± standard deviation),
40 MPa ± 1.3 MPa, and 41 MPa ± 1.0 MPa, respectively. The 28-d
tensile strengths of C1, C2, and C3 were 2.3 MPa ± 0.4 MPa,
3.3 MPa ± 0.3 MPa, and 3.7 MPa ± 0.4 MPa, respectively.
3.2. Steel bars
Deformed steel bar with a diameter of 19.1 mm was used [39]. Its
chemical composition is listed in Table 4. As specified by the manu-
facturer, the yield strength and ultimate strength are 420 MPa and
620 MPa, respectively. The elonagtion is 9% and the Young's modulus is
205 GPa [40].
4. Experimental program
4.1. Specimen and instrumentation
Fig. 2(a) shows the reinforced concrete beam specimens that were
140 mm long and had a cross section of 70 mm by 70 mm. The steel bar
measuring 180 mm in length was placed in the center of the concrete
with a cover thickness of 25 mm. The surface of steel bar was sand
blasted to remove the rust and then cleaned using alcohol, before the
steel bar was installed in the mold. A copper wire was soldered at both
ends of the steel bar for electrochemical measurement and accelerated
corrosion testing. An optical fiber was spirally winded on the steel bar
with a spacing of 10 mm on the steel bar to measure the corrosion-
induced strain changes. No glue was used for the fiber installation to
prevent potential influence on the corrosion of the steel bar. Pre-
liminary testing showed that installing the fiber optic cable with a 10-
mm spacing did not reduce the bond strength of the steel-concrete in-
terface and the corrosion resistance of reinforced concrete beams [26].
A two-part epoxy was used to cover a 60-mm length of the steel bar at
each end, enforcing electrochemical reactions concentrating within the
middle length of the steel bar [41,42].
For each type of concrete, surface notches are manipulated in the
concrete beams to investigate the effect of surface condition on the
corrosion process of the steel bars. The notch was made using a thin
Table 4
Chemical composition of the steel.
Element C Si Mn P S
Wt.% 0.38 0.18 1.00 0.12
Composites Part B 165 (2019) 679–689
steel sheet (thickness: 1 mm), as depicted in Fig. 2(b). Two notch depths
were investigated, which were 10 mm and 20 mm, respectively. The
Loss of ignition steel sheet was removed during demolding, leaving a notch on the
surface, as shown in Fig. 2(c). It should be noted that the notch is used
2.6 to mimic the effect of surface crack on the transport of water and ions,
although the effect of the notch on the mechanical properties of the
beam is different from real cracks [43].
In total, nine beams were prepared and tested. Table 5 lists the
details and designation of the specimens. Each specimen is designated
Gypsum (C$.2H) as ‘A-B’, where ‘A’ represents the steel fiber volume percentage in the
concrete, and ‘B’ represents the depth of the notch. For the specimens
2.6
without any notch, ‘B’ is zero. All the specimens were cured in lime-
saturated water until 28 d.
4.2. Electrochemical test and accelerated corrosion test
After the beams were cured in lime-saturated water for 28 d, the
beams were immediately immersed in 3.5 wt % sodium chloride solu-
tion for 48 h to stabilize the transport of ions in the beam. Then, an
accelerated corrosion test and an electrochemical test were conducted,
as shown in Fig. 3(a) and (b), respectively. In the accelerated corrosion
test, the steel bar and a graphite rod were respectively connected to the
positive and negative terminals of a direct current power supply
(model: KORAD KA6005D). A constant current of 500 μA/cm2 was
impressed to the steel bar. Every 2 h after the current was retained, the
current was disconnected for 30 min for stabilization, because polar-
ization of the electrode (steel bar) occurs in the accelerated corrosion
test. Open circuit potential (OCP) was measured until the value became
stabilized using a standard three-electrode setup, including a graphite
rod as the counter electrode, a saturated calomel electrode (SCE) as the
reference electrode, and the steel bar as the working electrode. The
three electrodes were connected to a potentiostat (model: Gamry In-
terface 1000E) for data acquisition. During the time for measuring the
OCP, the strain distribution along the distributed fiber optic sensor that
was winded on the steel bar was measured. The moment when the mass
loss of the steel bar reaches a certain percentage of the original mass
was defined as completion of the corrosion test. In this study, the per-
centage was set as 1.25% for the beams without surface notch and the
beams with 10-mm-deep notch, and 0.35% for the beams with 20-mm-
deep notch.
4.3. Distributed fiber optic sensor measurement
For each beam, the optical fiber installed on the steel bar (see Fig. 2)
was connected to a PPP-BOTDA data acquisition system for measure-
ment, as shown in Fig. 4. The Brillouin frequency shifts were measured
and converted into the strains along the optical fiber using Eq. (1).
Since the tests were conducted at controlled temperature (22 °C), the
frequency shift was considered totally attributed to the strain change.
The temperature variations are measured by the transmission cable that
were free of strain change, and the measurement results from the
transmission cable was used for temperature compensation. In this
study, the powers of the pump and probe light waves were adjusted to
ensure the stimulated Brillouin spectra had a peak intensity of
80 dB–82 dB. The Brillouin frequency of the optical fiber was about
10.8 GHz. Each measurement from the optical fiber was repeated for
215 times using an embedded algorithm, in order to improve the mea-
surement accuracy. The readout resolution was set at 1 cm, meaning
that there were 100 data points within a 1-m fiber length. The spatial
Cr Mo Ni Co Cu V Sn Fe
0.06 0.10 0.07 0.20 0.01 0.37 0.02 0.03 97.40
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Fig. 2. Photography of the specimens. (a) A

steel bar was wrapped with an optical fiber
in the mold before concrete casting; (b) A
steel sheet was placed in the mold for
creating a notch; (c) A surface notch was
made in the concrete along the steel bar.

Table 5 5. Analytical model of embedded corroded steel bar

Designation of the specimens.
Specimen No. Designaition Steel fiber content (%) Depth of notch (mm)
This section presents an innovative method to quantify the mass loss
of steel bars embedded in steel fiber reinforced concrete using the
1 0%-0 0 0 strains measured from the distributed fiber optic sensor. Fig. 6 illus-
2 0.5%-0 0.5 0 trates a meso-scale model of the steel-concrete composite instrumented
3 1%-0 1.0 0
with a fiber optic cable at the steel-concrete interface. Due to symmetry,
4 0%-10 0 10
5 0.5%-10 0.5 10 only a half of the steel bar is shown. Since the fiber optic cable was
6 1%-10 1.0 10 spirally winded on the surface of the steel bar (see Fig. 2), in an arbi-
7 0%-20 0 20 trary cross section perpendicular to the steel bar, the cut section of the
8 0.5%-20 0.5 20
fiber optic cable has an ellipse shape. To analyze the relationship be-
9 1%-20 1.0 20
tween the radii of different interfaces, the exterior surface of the fiber
optic cable and the fiber core are projected to the cross section, as in-
resolution was set at 2 cm, meaning two points with a distance no less dicated using the dotted lines. The uncorroded section of the steel bar is
than 2 cm could be differentiated. Each measurement took about 20 s shown in orange color; the corrosion products (rust) that grow on the
(s) to 40 s, depending on the scanned frequency range. The scanned surface of the steel bar is shown in red color; the buffer of the fiber optic
frequency range was adjusted according to the range of the Brillouin cable is shown in light blue color; the fiber core is represented in green
frequency shift. Each measurement was repeated for three times, and color; and the concrete matrix is shown in grey color. The radius of the
the measurement results were averaged. projected curve of the optical fiber core is denoted by rf; the radius of
the interface between the corrosion products (rust) and the buffer layer
of the fiber optic cable is rc; the radius of the original steel bar before
4.4. Characterization of surface cracks the corrosion testing is r0 (r0 = 9.55 mm); the radius of the corroded
steel bar is rn. Thus, the difference between rc and rn represents the
After the corrosion tests, surface cracks of the tested beams were thickness of the corrosion layer. The rust is porous and has a larger
observed. To evaluate the effect of steel fibers on the crack opening volume than the steel, thus exerting pressure to the fiber optic cable.
width, the crack width of the unnotched beams was quantified. In each The pressure causes expansion of the fiber optic cable, and thus results
of the unnotched beams, a longitudinal crack along the steel bar was in tensile strains in the optical fiber. Under corrosion, as the steel bar's
observed, as shown in Fig. 5(a). The width of the concrete surface crack radius is reduced from r0 to rn, a layer of rust forms at the surface of the
was evaluated through an image analysis. High-resolution (500 dpi) steel bar, and leads to increases of rc. The radius of the optical fiber (rf)
images of the beams were captured using a digital camera. A standard increases with rc. Thus, the strain change in the fiber optic sensor re-
ruler was used as the reference length to calibrate the relationship flects the corrosion process of the steel bar.
between the pixel of the images and the represented length. For each In the accelerated corrosion testing of the specimens without any
beam, the crack width was measured at 27 sections, designated as S1 to steel fiber, the applied current is considered totally pass through the
S27. The sections were equally spaced at 5 mm, as depicted in Fig. 5(b). steel bar, while this may not be true for the specimens with steel fibers.
The crack width results of the 27 sections were averaged. In the notched The amount of charge (electron) transfer is used to calculate the mass
beams, the crack initiated from the notch tip, due to the reduced sec- loss (Δm) of the steel bar in the beams 0%-0, 0%-10, and 0%-20, based
tional area at the notch section and stress concentration at the notch tip. on the Faraday's law [26]:
The crack width was not measured due to the difficulty in imaging the
WIt
cracks. m=
nF (2)

where W is the atomic weight of iron (56 g/mol); I is applied current

Fig. 3. Test set-up: (a) the accelerated corrosion test, and (b) the electrochemical test.

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Fig. 4. A PPP-BOTDA system was used to measure the strain distribution along the steel bar.

(I = 2πr0·i·l), where corrosion current density (i = 500 μA/cm2), r0 is

the radius of the steel bar before corrosion (r0 = 9.55 mm), and l is the
length of steel bar subjected to corrosion (l = 10 mm in this case); t is
the time duration of the applied current; n is the ionic charge (n = 2 for
Fe → Fe2+); F is the Faraday constant (96,500 A s/mol).
According to Fig. 6, the mass loss of the steel bar can be expressed
as:

m= ( r02 rn2) l (3)

3
where ρ is the density of steel (7.86 g/cm ).
Given the mass loss (Δm) determined from Eq. (2), rn can be de-
termined:
0.5
m
rn = r02
l (4)
Fig. 6. Illustration of steel-concrete composite instrumented with a distributed
According to Fig. 6, the volume of the rust (Vrust) and the volume of fiber optic sensor.
the corroded steel bar (VFe) are expressed as:
lr02 2
Vrust = ( rc2 rn2) l (5) k= (2 t + t ) +1
(9)
m
VFe = ( r02 rn2) l (6) Provided the expansion coefficient, Eq. (9) can be rewritten as Eq.
(10) to calculate the mass loss of the steel bar embedded in steel fiber
where rc can be determined using the strain (εt) measured from the reinforced concrete using the strains measured from the distributed
distributed fiber optic sensors: fiber optic sensor:
rc = r0 (1 + t ) (7) lr02 (2 t + 2
t )
m= .
The expansion coefficient (k) of the rust is defined as: k 1 (10)

Vrust ( rc2 rn2) l

k= = 6. Experimental results
VFe ( r02 rn2) l (8)

Plugging Eqs. (4) and (7) into Eq. (8), the expansion coefficient of 6.1. Electrochemical test
the rust can be calculated at each time instant using the mass loss and
the strains measured from the distributed fiber optic sensor, as shown in Fig. 7 shows the OCPs of the beams. For the beams with the same
Eq. (9): notch depth, the changes of the OCP with time follow the same trend, as

Fig. 5. Crack width characterization for tested beams: (a) the cracked beam 0%-0 shows a representative longitudinal crack, and (b) measurement sections (S1 to
S27) for the crack width.

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L. Fan, et al.
Fig. 7. Measurement results of OCP of the beams: (a) without notch; (b) notch depth = 10 mm; (c) notch depth = 20 mm; (d) without steel fiber; (e) fiber con-
tent = 0.5%; (f) fiber content = 1.0%. ‘SCE’ stands for the saturated calomel electrode (the reference electrode).
shown in Fig. 7(a)–7(c). At the early stage of the test, the OCP is re-
tained at about −0.2 V, even after the steel bar was corroded due to the
impressed current (500 μA/cm2). This can be attributed to the effect of
polarization, as elaborated in Ref. [44]. While the corrosion potential of
the steel is around −0.67 V, a higher OCP is measured after the ac-
celerated corrosion test. As the steel bar was connected to the positive
terminal of the direct current power supply, the electrode potential of
the steel bar is increased by the power supply. After the current was
impressed for 2 h, a relatively stable polarization condition forms, and
thus the OCP was relatively retained at a high value, even after the
current was paused. However, as the steel bar is further corroded, the
polarization effect becomes less prominent [45], and the OCP value
decreases. This is why the OCP value decreases with the elapsed time of
the accelerated corrosion test. It should be noted that the mechanism of
the reduction of the OCP in this study is different from that in natural
corrosion tests when no external power supply is used to accelerate the
corrosion. Due to the prominent polarization effect, the OCP value is
not used to assess the corrosion process. However, the consistent trend
of the OCP can qualitatively indicate the progress of corrosion of the
steel bar due to the impressed current.
The OCP results of the beams are also compared regarding to the
notch depth (Fig. 7(d)–7(f)). For the beams with the same fiber content,
as the notch depth increases from 0 to 10 mm, the trend of the OCP does
not change significantly; however, as the notch depth increases from
10 mm to 20 mm, the OCP rapidly decreases with the time, showing a
transition behavior. Such results indicate that the notch depth sig-
nificantly affects the corrosion rate of the steel bars when the notch
depth exceed a critical level.
6.2. Distributed fiber optic sensor measurement
Fig. 8 shows the corrosion-induced expansion strain measured from
the distributed sensors installed on the steel bars. The Y-axis represents
the strain measured from the distributed sensor; tensile strain is posi-
tive. The X-axis represents the position along the length of the optical
fiber. The starting point of the X-axis is at the pump end of the data
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Composites Part B 165 (2019) 679–689
acquisition system. In each figure, the length range of the optical fiber is
selected to show the strains in the fiber length that are wrapped on the
steel bars.
The strain-distance curves in Fig. 8 show that the strain distributions
are non-uniform along the steel bar, indicating that the corrosion is
uneven along the steel bar in the accelerated corrosion testing. This is
consistent with the heterogenous nature of concrete. At different loca-
tions of the tested beam, the transport properties are different due to
the heterogenous microstructures, which in turn leads to uneven cor-
rosion along the steel bar. Under the same surface condition, the beams
without any steel fiber show larger expansion strains than the beams
with steel fibers at the same measurement time. For the beams with a
20-mm notch, the expansion strain is small (∼100 με) in the first 5 h,
indicating that limited corrosion took place. The expansion strain in-
creases after 5 h, revealing an accelerated corrosion. The testing was
terminated at 25 h, when the strain in the beams with 0.5% steel fibers
or 1% steel fibers is up to around 1700 μɛ, which is smaller than the
strain (2400 μɛ) in the beams without any steel fiber. For the beams
with a 10-mm notch, the strain in the beams without any steel fiber
increases at 35 h, while the strain increases at 42 h in the beams with
steel fibers, indicating that the steel fibers delay the corrosion of the
steel bars. For the beams without a notch, the strains of the beams with
0.5% fiber and 1% fiber are comparable. This means that after the fiber
content reaches a certain level, adding more steel fibers does not sig-
nificantly inhibit the corrosion.
6.3. Strain increasing rate
Despite the non-uniform strain distributions along the distributed
fiber optic sensors, the change of the average strain over the fiber
length that is winded on the steel bar reflects the corrosion process. As
the corrosion continues, more rust is produced, which in turn leads to
larger tensile strains in the optical fiber. Thus, the average strain is
analyzed to investigate the strain increasing rate of the embedded steel
bars. Fig. 9(a)–9(i) show the average strains that change over time.
Each time history of the average strain includes three stages, which are
L. Fan, et al.
Fig. 8. Detailed strain distributions along the distributed sensors in the beams: (a) 0%-20, (b) 0.5%-20, (c) 1%-20, (d) 0%-10, (e) 0.5%-10, (f) 1%-10, (g) 0%-0, (h)
0.5%-0, and (i) 1%-0.
consistent with the existing study [25]. In Stage 1, the corrosion pro-
ducts diffuse to the surrounding concrete pores or voids without gen-
erating notable strain change. In Stage 2, after the concrete pores or
voids are filled with corrosion products, as more rust is produced due to
the electrochemical reactions, the diameter of the steel bar increases,
exerting pressure to the surrounding concrete. However, due to the
limited access of oxygen to the steel surface, the strain increasing rate is
moderate [46]. In Stage 3, the concrete cover cracks, and, overall the
strain increasing rate is higher than that in the Stage 2, due to ac-
celerated ingress of water and oxygen. To investigate the corrosion
rates in different stages, a linear regression analysis is conducted for the
Stage 2 and Stage 3, respectively. The slope represents the strain in-
creasing rate and reflects the corrosion rate. The coefficient of de-
termination (R2) is no less than 0.96, indicating good correlations.
Based on the test results in Fig. 9, the key parameters that describe
the corrosion process are determined, including the durations of the
three stages, strain increasing rates in Stages 2 and 3, and the crack
time, as listed in Table 6. The parameters are used to evaluate the effect
of steel fiber content on the corrosion of steel bars embedded in the
concrete. The duration of each stage means the time that each stage
lasts. The crack time stands for the time at the end of the Stage 2.
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6.4. Crack width
The crack width was 0.68 mm ± 0.09 mm (mean value ±
standard deviation) in the beam 0-0 without any steel fiber,
0.08 mm ± 0.02 mm in the beam 0.5%-0 with 0.5% steel fibers, and
0.07 mm ± 0.02 mm in the beam 1%-0 with 1% steel fibers. These data
indicate that the addition of the steel fibers helps reduce the crack
width in the concrete, while the reduced crack width (∼0.1 mm) might
not be tight enough to significantly retain the permeability [47,48]. As
the steel fiber content is increased from 0.5% to 1%, the reduction of
the crack width is relatively small, compared with the reduction of the
crack width as the steel fiber content is increased from 0% to 0.5%.
7. Discussions
7.1. Effect of steel fiber content on strain increasing rate
Fig. 9(a)–9(i) show that the strains are small (∼100 με) in the Stage
1, compared with the Stages 2 and 3, because a limited amount of rust
are produced and accommodated by the pores at the steel-concrete
interface. This is consistent with the existing studies [25]. Overall, the
use of steel fibers tends to prolong the duration of the Stage 1, because
adding the steel fibers increases the air content in the concrete, in-
creasing the porosity at the steel-concrete interface. The increased
L. Fan, et al. Composites Part B 165 (2019) 679–689

Fig. 9. Relationships between the average strain (ε) and the elapsed time (t) of the accelerated corrosion test for the beams: (a) 0%-20, (b) 0.5%-20, (c) 1%-20, (d)
0%-10, (e) 0.5%-10, (f) 1%-10, (g) 0%-0, (h) 0.5%-0, and (i) 1%-0. ‘ε2’ and ‘ε3’ represent the average strains in Stage 2 and Stage 3, respectively. ‘R2’ is the coefficient
of determination.

Table 6 steel fibers in concrete does not signficantly change the diffusion
Effect of steel fiber content on the corrosion of steel bars. coeffcient of the concrete as well as the water and oxygen contents in
Specimen Duration Strain increasing rate (με/h) Crack time (h)
the concrete. In general, the corrosion products are expressed as m·Fe
(OH)2 n·Fe(OH)3 p·H2O, where m, n, and p are numbers that depend on
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 2 Stage 3 the moisture and oxygen contents in the concrete. In this study, the
same current was impressed to all the beams, so theoretically the same
0%-20 5 6 14 107.8 131.6 11
0.5%-20 5 8 12 71.8 94.1 13
volume of the corrosion products is produced. The reduced corrosion
1%-20 5 12 8 55.2 92.3 17 rate of the steel bars in the fiber reinforced concrete can be attributed to
0%-10 35 14 42 42.2 128.0 49 the steel fibers that are interconnected and partially allocate the im-
0.5%-10 42 16 33 24.9 127.2 58 pressed current [19]. Overall, the duration of the Stage 2 increases with
1%-10 42 16 33 20.9 117.8 58
the steel fiber content in the notched beams, but adding steel fibers does
0%-0 34 18 39 35.1 95.7 52
0.5%-0 42 16 33 21.8 99.6 58 not affect the duration of the Stage 2 in the unnotched beams. This is
1%-0 42 18 31 19.7 94.4 60 because the bridging effect of the steel fibers is more predominant in
the notched beams that are more prone to cracking than the unnotched
beams, due to the reduced cross-sectional area and stress concentration
at the notch tip.
porosity in turn requires longer corrosion time to fill the pores with the In Stage 3, cracks are generated in the concrete, accelerating the
corrosion products. ingress of delerious ions and the corrosion of the steel bars. Overall, the
In Stage 2, the strain increasing rate decreases with the fiber content use of the steel fibers reduces the strain increasing rate, although the
in the beams with the same notch depth, as shown in Fig. 10(a). When reduction is marginal, as shown in Fig. 10(b). This is because the steel
the steel fiber content increases from 0 to 1%, the strain increasing rate fibers help bridge the cracks and limit the crack width [50]. The re-
is reduced by 50%, 50%, and 45% for the beams with notch depths of duced crack width may delay the corrosion, because the permeability of
20 mm, 10 mm, and 0 mm, respectively. According to Ref. [49], adding the cracked concrete may be retained under tight crack widths [47,48].

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L. Fan, et al. Composites Part B 165 (2019) 679–689

Fig. 10. Effect of the steel fiber content on the corrosion process: (a) the strain increasing rate in Stage 2, (b) the strain increasing rate in Stage 3, and (c) the crack
time.

Fig. 11. Effect of the surface notch depth on the corrosion process: (a) the strain increasing rate in Stage 2, (b) the strain increasing rate in Stage 3, and (c) the crack
time.

7.2. Effect of surface notch depth on strain increasing rate

Fig. 12. Expansion coefficient of the rust determined from the beams without
any steel fiber.
Once again, the effect of the steel fiber content on the strain increasing
rate is more notable in the beams with a 20-mm notch, because the
bridging effect of the steel fibers is more predominant in the notched
beams that are more prone to cracking than the unnotched beams. The
crack time is delayed by adding the steel fibers, as shown in Fig. 10(c),
likely attributed to the bridging effect and partially-allocated current of
the steel fibers.
Fig. 11 shows the effect of the notch depth on the corrosion process
of the steel bars in the beams. In the Stage 2, as the notch depth de-
creases from 20 mm to 10 mm, the strain increasing rate decreases by
60%, 65%, and 65% for the beams with steel fiber contents of 0%, 0.5%
and 1%, respectively; as the notch depth decreases from 10 mm to 0, the
strain increasing rate decreases by 17%, 12%, and 6% for the beams
with steel fiber contents of 0%, 0.5% and 1%, respectively. Such results
indicate that the increase of the notch depth promotes the corrosion of
steel bars in the beams. This can be attributed to the reduced diffusion
distance at the notch tip. In the Stage 3, as the notch depth increases
from 0 to 10 mm, the strain increasing rate increases, revealing that the
surface notch promotes the post-cracking corrosion, regardless of the
steel fiber content. However, as the notch depth increases from 10 mm
to 20 mm, inconsistent trends are observed from different specmens.
The strain increasing rate increases in the beams without any steel fiber,
while the rate decreases in the beams with steel fibers, suggesting that
the effect of further increasing the notch depth on the post-cracking
corrosion is surpassed by the effect of the steel fibers. Further research
is needed to established a holistic understanding of the post-cracking
corrosion process in the presence of steel fibers and notch in the

Fig. 13. Effect of steel fiber content on the mass loss of the steel bars in concrete with surface notch depth of (a) 20 mm; (b) 10 mm; (c) 0 mm.

687
L. Fan, et al.
concrete.
Overall, the durations of the Stage 1 to Stage 3 and the crack time
(see Fig. 11(c)) decrease with the notch depth, because of two primary
reasons: (1) The increase of the notch depth shortens the transport path
of the species for the corrosion reactions, thus accelerating the corro-
sion. (2) The cross sectional area is reduced by the presence of a notch,
and stress concentration at the notch tip is promoted, reducing the
crack resistance of the section.
Another interesting observation is that the effect of the notch depth
on the corrosion process demonstrates an elbow shape, or a transition
phenomenon. Overall, as the notch depth increases from 0 to 10 mm,
the changes of the strain increasing rates and the crack time are rela-
tively small, while as the notch depth increases from 10 mm to 20 mm,
the changes of the strain increasing rates and the crack time are sig-
nificantly manifested. Such phenomenon suggests that there exists a
critical notch depth that leads to highly accelerated corrosion of the
steel bar embedded in the concrete. However, when the surface damage
depth is less than the critical value, the surface damage does not greatly
affect the corrosion of the embedded steel bars.
7.3. Mass loss of steel bars
For the beams (0%-0, 0%-10, and 0%-20) without any steel fiber,
the expansion coefficient of the rust is calculated using Eq. (9), as
plotted in Fig. 12. The horizontal axis represents the test time, which is
normalized using the total testing time of the beam. The total testing
time was 91 h for the unnotched beams and the beams with a 10-mm
notch, and 25 h for the beams with a 20-mm notch. For each beam, the
expansion coefficient follows different trends in the three corrosion
stages. In the Stage 1, the calculation result of the expansion coefficient
is relatively small (∼1). This is because the corrosion products tend to
diffuse and fill the pores at the interface, and thus do not generate
considerable strain changes in the optical fiber. In the Stage 2 and Stage
3, the expansion coefficient monotonically increases with time. How-
ever, the increasing rate in Stage 3 is lower than that in Stage 2. This is
because some corrosion products diffuse through the crack openings in
Stage 3. The transport of the rust alleviates the pressure applied to the
optical fiber (see Fig. 6), and thus reduces the strain increase in the
optical fiber. According to Ref. [49], adding steel fibers does not sig-
nificantly change the diffusion coefficient of the concrete. Thus, the
three beams with the same surface notch condition have comparable
water contents and oxygen concentrations. Therefore, it is rational to
assume that the three beams that have the same surface notch condition
but different steel fiber contents have the same expansion coefficient of
the rust at the same corrosion testing time. The time-histories of the rust
expansion coefficient determined from the beams without any steel
fiber are used to calculate the mass loss of the steel bars in the steel fiber
reinforced concrete beams using Eq. (10).
Fig. 13 plots the calculation results of the mass loss of the steel bars.
For the beams without any steel fiber, the mass loss is calculated ac-
cording to the Faraday's law in Eq. (2). Under the constant current, the
mass loss is proportional to time, as shown by the red dotted straight
lines. If all the applied current goes through the steel bars, then the
time-histories of the mass loss of the steel bars in the concrete beams
with the same notch condition should be the same. However, Fig. 13
shows that the steel bars in the beams that have the same notch con-
dition but different steel fiber contents have different mass loss results.
Overall, the mass loss of the steel bar decreases with the steel fiber
content in the concrete. This observation is consistent with the findings
in Refs. [19,51]. It is likely because the steel fibers partially allocate the
applied current. In other words, the steel fibers also loss some electrons
under the potential applied using the external power supply. Since the
applied current was kept constant, the mass loss of the steel bar be-
comes slower.
While the calculation results of the mass loss of the steel bars are
reasonable, the proposed method is based on the assumption that
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Composites Part B 165 (2019) 679–689
adding the steel fibers does not signficantly affect the expansion coef-
ficient of the rust. Considering the complexity of the corrosion process
and the numerous influencing factors, further research is needed to
verify the validity of the assumption in more scenarios and define the
scope of application.
8. Conclusions
Based on the above investigations, the following conclusions can be
drawn:
• In the steel fiber reinforced concrete, the corrosion process of the
steel bar embedded in the concrete has three stages. In the first
stage, the corrosion-induced strain change in the steel bar is small
(∼100 με). In the second and third stages, the strain approximately
linearly increases with time. The completion of the second stage is
characterized by through-thickness concrete cracking due to the
expansion strain applied by the corroded steel bar.
• Under the same surface condition (notch depth), steel fibers could
reduce the corrosion of the steel bar embedded in the concrete and
delay concrete cracking. When the steel fiber content increases from
0% to 1%, the strain increasing rate before concrete cracking is
reduced by 49%, 50%, and 44% for the beams with notch depths of
20 mm, 10 mm, and 0 mm, respectively. When the steel fiber content
is no more than 0.5%, the effect on the post-cracking corrosion rate
is insignificant, likely due to limited bridging effect at a low fiber
content.
• Given the same steel fiber content, the strain increasing rate in-
creases with the notch depth. As the notch depth increases from
0 mm to 20 mm (the effective concrete cover thickness decreases
from 25 mm to 5 mm), the strain increasing rate of the second cor-
rosion stage (before cracking) increases by 60%, 65%, and 65% for
the beams with steel fiber contents of 0%, 0.5% and 1%, respec-
tively.
• The effect of the notch depth on the corrosion process demonstrates
a transition phenomenon. As the notch depth increases from 0 to
10 mm, the changes of the strain increasing rates and the crack time
are relatively small, while as the notch depth increases from 10 mm
to 20 mm, the changes are significantly manifested, suggesting a
critical notch depth that leads to highly accelerated corrosion of the
steel bar embedded in the concrete.
• A new method for calculating the mass loss of steel bars embedded
in steel fiber reinforced concrete is presented and used to investigate
the effect of steel fibers on the mass loss of the steel bars. The mass
loss of the steel bar decreases with the increase of fiber content.
Directly using the Faraday's law highly overestimated the mass loss
of steel bars embedded in steel fiber reinforced concrete. This is
likely because the steel fibers partially allocate the applied current.
Further research is needed to verify the assumption that the ex-
pansion coefficient of the corrosion products is retained under dif-
ferent steel fiber contents.
Acknowledgement
Financial support was provided partially by the U.S. National
Science Foundation [Grant No. CMMI-1235202] and the U.S.
Department of Transportation [Grant No. DTPH5615HCAP10]. The
findings and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors
only and don't reflect the views of the sponsors.
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