Head of the project: Ing. Zahuranec Michal

Research team: doc. Ing. Odrobiňák Jaroslav, PhD.

Duration: September 2022 – August 2023

Damage to structures due to corrosion of reinforcement is one of the significant impacts that affect the reliability and also the residual life of structures and bridges, which can lead to failure and consequently loss of life. Almost all materials used in construction are subject to degradation. Material corrosion is one of the most well-known degradation modes. In the construction industry, the most commonly used materials are concrete, concrete reinforcement and prestressing reinforcement. As part of a grant project, my aim is to investigate corrosion on prestressing bars in an accelerated manner using direct current - accelerated testing. For this purpose, I plan to prepare steel frames that will serve as a cage for the possibility of prestressing the bars. The bars will be prestressed to 80% and 40% of the ultimate capacity (ultimate limit state). The tension in the prestressing bars will be measured using resistive bonded strain gauges. A force transducer will be placed on the outside of the frame at the bar to record the prestressing force value. A drain pipe shall be placed in the frame and soaked with 5 % brine. The DC current will be induced from a laboratory power supply where the anode will be connected at two points namely at both ends of the rod. The cathode will be connected to a copper plate which will be immersed in the salt solution. Tests will be carried out at different time lengths where it will also be observed whether the corrosion and voltage waveform is linear or non-linear. All specimens will be ground, cleaned and compared to a zero weight measurement of the prestressing bar after the test is completed.