Performance of beams reinforced with PSWC-bars and other rebars

Abstract

Compared to concrete constructions of earlier periods, constructions of recent decades have suffered early decay and distress. In most cases, this early decay and distress in concrete structures is due to higher rates of corrosion in today’s reinforcing bars of high strength steel. This higher and accelerated rate of corrosion can be attributed to the provision and presence of ribs on the surface of rebars. In the absence of ribs or any other surface feature, PSWC-bars, characterized by their plain surface and gentle wave-type configurations, will be naturally much less susceptible to corrosion than ribbed bars are. Consequently, the use of PSWC-bars will remove the principal causes of early distress in today’s reinforced concrete constructions, ushering in therewith many attendant benefits. Twenty four beams with eight different rebar varieties were tested for their load-carrying capacities. The tests confirmed earlier findings by others that, as in the case of compression elements, the use of well-proportioned PSWC-bars, among different types of rebars, would lead to the highest load-carrying capacities of concrete flexural elements.