International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials

DOI 10.1186/s40069-018-0234-y
ISSN 1976-0485 / eISSN 2234-1315

Effect of Cracking on Corrosion of Steel in Concrete

Faiz Uddin Ahmed Shaikh*

(Received August 25, 2016, Accepted January 7, 2018)

Abstract: It is generally recognized that cracks provide easy access to ingress of chlorides in concrete and hence, the initiation of
corrosion of steel in cracked concrete occurs at early stage. However, wide variety of results on the effect of crack widths on
corrosion of steel in concrete are reported in many studies. Apart from crack width, the crack depths, cracking frequency and
healing of cracks also influence the corrosion of steel in concrete. This paper presents a comprehensive review and summarised the
results on the effect of cracking on corrosion of steel in concrete. The effect of crack widths on the diffusion of chlorides ions and
carbon-dioxide is also discussed in this paper. Among all available results, a correlation between the corrosion current and the
crack widths up to 0.3 mm can be established, however, no distinct trends are observed beyond that crack width. Conflicting
results on the effect of crack widths on chloride ion diffusion are also reported. The longitudinal crack causes more severe
corrosion of steel in concrete than transverse cracks of same width. Cracked concrete containing supplementary cementitious
materials exhibited superior corrosion resistance than cracked ordinary Portland cement concrete of same width of transverse as
well as longitudinal cracks. The same is also true in the case of lower water–binder ratios of cracked concrete. The increase in
crack depth increased the chloride diffusion; however, the corrosion test shows an opposite trend. Conflicting results on the effect
of crack frequency on corrosion of steel are also reported.
Keywords: corrosion, crack width, crack depth, crack frequency, chlorides, carbonation.

1. Introduction the corrosion of steel in concrete with different crack widths,

while others, in few numbers, studied the effects of number
Concrete is the most widely used construction materials in of cracks and their depths on the corrosion of steel in con-
the world due to its low cost and easy availability of its crete. Conflicting results on the relationship between the
ingredients. It also exhibits excellent strength properties in crack widths and corrosion of steel in concrete are also
compression. However, it easily cracks in tension, flexure reported. In most of the above studies, the corrosion of steel
and shear as well as due to various environmental factors was considered due to penetration of chloride ions. How-
such as thermal cracking, shrinkage cracking, freeze–thaw, ever, carbonation also induces corrosion of steel in concrete
etc., during its service life. The formation of cracks and especially in cracked concrete. Very few studies, so far,
adversely affect its durability properties with most signifi- are reported on this aspect. While many results on the effect
cant effect on the de-passivation of reinforcing steel in of cracks on corrosion of steel in concrete are reported,
reinforced concrete (RC), resulting in corrosion of steel. The hardly any paper exists that provides a comprehensive
presence of cracks shorten the corrosion initiation time of summary and review of existing available results on steel
steel and also accelerates the propagation of corrosion during corrosion in cracked concrete, the relationship between crack
service life resulting in significant corrosion induced damage widths and corrosion, effects of other parameters of crack on
and loss of sectional and load carrying capacity of RC corrosion of steel in concrete in a single report. Therefore,
structures. The formation of cracks in RC is unavoidable due this paper is prepared to fill this gap in the state of knowl-
to its low tensile strength. The cracks thus form in concrete edge on the effects of cracks on corrosion of steel in
varies in widths, numbers, geometry, depths, etc. (Mehta and concrete.
Gerwick 1982). These factors affect the initiation and
propagation of corrosion of steel in RC. Considerable
number of publications reported the research results on the 2. Effect of Crack Widths
corrosion of steel in cracked concrete. Most of them studied
Surface crack width is considered to be the most important
parameter that affects the corrosion of steel in concrete.
Department of Civil Engineering, Curtin University, Cracks on concrete surface which are perpendicular to the
Perth, WA 6102, Australia. reinforcing steel known as ‘‘transverse cracks’’ and those
*Corresponding Author; E-mail: [email protected] parallel to longitudinal reinforcing bars as known as ‘‘lon-
Copyright Ó The Author(s) 2018. This article is an open gitudinal cracks’’. Generally, the transverse cracks are most
access publication
common in RC. Longitudinal cracks generally form after the on corrosion of steel in concrete is by Poursaee and Hansson
corrosion of steel and are considered more dangerous than (2008) where the effect of 0.1 mm wide longitudinal crack
transverse cracks for corrosion as more area of steel is on corrosion of steel bar is evaluated after 128 weeks of
exposed to the aggressive environment. Another reason is corrosion test. In their study they also evaluated the effects
that longitudinal cracks are the evidence of the critical of supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) by which
development of corrosion on the reinforcing steel. Most of concrete was modified by containing slag and fly ash. Their
the published results studied the effects of transverse cracks results are compiled and are shown in Fig. 3. It can be seen
of different widths on the corrosion of steel. While it is that the corrosion current density of reinforcing steel in
generally accepted that appropriate crack width might transversely cracked concrete is lower than those in longi-
accelerate the corrosion initiation, however, there are con- tudinally cracked concretes of same width. However, it
flicting results and debate about the effect of cracks on should be noted that the clear cover in the case of transverse
corrosion initiation (Darwin et al. 1985). Table 1 shows the crack is three to four times more than the case of longitudinal
summary of available results on the corrosion of steel in crack and this could be the reason for significantly lower
cracked concrete with different transverse crack widths. It current density in transversely cracked concrete. The posi-
can be seen that different researchers used different widths of tive influence of thicker concrete cover of same crack width
cracks, water–cement ratios, concrete types, corrosion peri- in reducing the corrosion current density in ordinary con-
ods as well as different methods of corrosion evaluation. crete as well as in SCMs modified concretes is also reported
Therefore, a direct relationship on the effect of widths of by Scott and Alexander (2007) and Raupach (1996) as can
transverse cracks on the corrosion of steel in cracked con- be seen in Table 1. On the other hand, no significant
crete based on available data is difficult to establish. Even improvements due to the effect of SCMs can be observed on
with the same researcher no trend on the widths of cracks corrosion of steel in longitudinally cracked concrete.
with corrosion of steel can also be seen. For example,
Mohammed et al. (2001a), Sistonen et al. (2007), Quero
et al. (2010), Schiebl and Raupach (1997), etc., did not 4. Effect of Crack Frequency
noticed any increasing trend of corrosion of steel in concrete
with increase in transverse crack widths. While, others Crack frequency is defined as the number of cracks per
results, e.g., Otieno et al. (2010), Sahmaran and Yaman specific length. The crack frequency of transverse cracks also
(2008), Montes et al. (2004), Scott and Alexander (2007), effects the corrosion of steel in concrete. In a study, Arya and
etc., show such increasing trend. Figures 1 and 2 show the Darko (1996) evaluated the effect of crack frequency on the
rate of corrosion of steel in concrete having different widths corrosion of steel in concrete containing transverse cracks of
of cracks and the mass loss compiled from different studies. same depths and total crack width of 2.4 mm. Their results
It can also be seen that in a broader scale no relationships (see Fig. 4) show that the corrosion of steel increases with
between the crack widths and the corrosion can be estab- increase in crack frequency, except the crack frequency of 20
lished. However, at smaller crack widths up to 0.3 mm an where self-healing of cracks was observed in that beam
increasing trend of corrosion of steel with increase in crack reported by the authors. In a subsequent study, however,
width can be seen. It can also be seen that the scatter of Schiebl and Raupach (1997) reported a completely different
results in the range of bigger crack widths, e.g., at 0.5 and observation where the increase in crack frequency decreased
0.7 mm are more pronounced than that in the range of the the corrosion rate (see Fig. 5). They also observed that by
smaller crack widths. doubling the crack spacing or in other words by decreasing
the number of cracks into half the corrosion rate is doubled.
They argued that by reducing the crack spacing through
3. Effect of Longitudinal Cracks increasing the number of cracks, the size of the cathode areas
between the cracks are decreased, which reduced the corro-
While transverse cracks are common in RC structures, sion rate. This hypothesis also found to explain the low
longitudinal cracks are also formed due to shrinkage corrosion current of steel embedded in strain hardening
cracking, plastic settlement of concrete, etc. In terms of a cementitious composites (SHCCs) containing closely spaced
critical development of corrosion of steel in concrete, the multiple cracks (e.g., in Ahmed and Mihashi 2010).
longitudinal cracks parallel to steel bars are more dangerous
than transverse cracks perpendicular to steel bars because
they provide easy access of chlorides, moisture and oxygen 5. Effect of Crack Depth
to a wide area of steel reinforcement and it accelerates the
further development of corrosion. In case of transverse In addition to crack width, crack depth is also a key
cracks, however, the cathode area is situated between the parameter; especially, under loading the crack depth
cracks, where moisture and oxygen have to reach the increases during all stages in the life of a concrete structure
embedded steel through sound concrete in order to enable which strongly affects the chloride ions penetration depth.
the corrosion process. Therefore, longitudinal cracks can However, studies about crack depth affecting the chloride
significantly shorten the service life of concrete structures. penetration and subsequent steel corrosion are rarely avail-
The only reported study on the effect of longitudinal crack able. Moreover, shape of crack depth might also influence
International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
 Table 1 Summary of effect of transverse cracks widths on corrosion of steel in cracked concrete.
References Type of concrete Water/cement Study period Corrosion rate (lA/cm2), or corrosion current (lm/year), or corrosion potential (mV), or mass loss (%)
Uncracked Crack Crack Crack Crack Crack Crack
width = 0.1 mm width = 0.2 mm width = 0.3 mm width = 0.4 mm width = 0.5 mm width = 0.7 mm
Otieno et al. (2010) OPC concrete 0.4 28 Weeks 0.04 lA/cm2 0.14 lA/cm2 0.36 lA/cm2 0.69 lA/cm2

OPC concrete 0.55 28 Weeks 0.10 lA/cm2 0.31 lA/cm2 0.78 lA/cm2 0.93 lA/cm2
2 2 2
50% Slag 0.4 28 Weeks 0.04 lA/cm 0.07 lA/cm 0.26 lA/cm 0.38 lA/cm2

50% Slag 0.55 28 Weeks 0.05 lA/cm2 0.07 lA/cm2 0.41 lA/cm2 0.55 lA/cm2

Mohammed et al. OPC 0.30 14 Weeks 0.1 lA/cm2

(2001a)
0.50 14 Weeks 0.00 lA/cm2 1 lA/cm2 1.4 lA/cm2 2 lA/cm2

0.70 14 Weeks 0.15 lA/cm2

2 2 2
Sistonen et al. (2007) OPC 0.46 4 Years 0.24 lA/cm 0.27 lA/cm 0.52 lA/cm 0.59 lA/cm2 0.44 lA/cm2 0.54 lA/cm2 0.41 lA/cm2

Quero et al. (2010) OPC 0.3 4 Years - 400 mV - 600 mV - 440 mV - 500 mV - 400 mV

0.4 - 500 mV - 600 mV - 500 mV - 480 mV - 400 mV

0.5 - 600 mV - 600 mV - 540 mV - 540 mV - 400 mV

0.6 - 500 mV - 700 mV - 540 mV - 540 mV - 450 mV

Sahmaran and Yaman OPC mortar 0.48 100 hours 1.3% Mass loss 1.5% Mass loss 1.6% Mass loss 2.3% Mass loss
(2008)

Montes et al. (2004) OPC concrete 0.37 1 Year 0.15 lA/cm2 1.0 lA/cm2 2 lA/cm2
2 2
0.45 1 Year 1.2 lA/cm 1.7 lA/cm 3.3 lA/cm2

20% Fly ash 0.37 1 Year 0.45 lA/cm2 1.1 lA/cm2 1.6 lA/cm2

0.45 1 Year 0.75 lA/cm2 1.7 lA/cm2 2.9 lA/cm2

40% Fly ash 0.37 1 Year 0.15 lA/cm2 0.65 lA/cm2 1.0 lA/cm2

0.45 1 Year 0.25 lA/cm2 1.4 lA/cm2 2.4 lA/cm2

International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials

 Table 1 continued
References Type of concrete Water/cement Study period Corrosion rate (lA/cm2), or corrosion current (lm/year), or corrosion potential (mV), or mass loss (%)

Uncracked Crack Crack Crack Crack Crack Crack

width = 0.1 mm width = 0.2 mm width = 0.3 mm width = 0.4 mm width = 0.5 mm width = 0.7 mm
Scott and Alexander OPC 90 Weeks Cover = 20 mm 2.65 lA/cm2 3.23 lA/cm2
(2007)
Cover = 40 mm 1.20 lA/cm2 1.48 lA/cm2

30% Fly ash 90 Weeks Cover = 20 mm 0.64 lA/cm2 0.50 lA/cm2

Cover = 40 mm 0.39 lA/cm2 0.71 lA/cm2

2
50% Slag 90 Weeks Cover = 20 mm 0.39 lA/cm 0.53 lA/cm2

Cover = 40 mm 0.35 lA/cm2 0.51 lA/cm2

7% Silica fume 90 Weeks Cover = 20 mm 0.67 lA/cm2 1.03 lA/cm2

Cover = 40 mm 0.59 lA/cm2 1.12 lA/cm2

Otsuki et al. (2000) OPC concrete 0.30 4 Weeks 0.95 lm/year

0.50 4 Weeks 1.45 lm/year

0.70 4 Weeks 3.39 lm/year

International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials

Berke et al. (1993) OPC concrete 1 Year Corrosion
area = 1600 mm2

Schiebl and Raupach OPC concrete 0.6 24 Weeks 5 mg (loss) 15 mg (loss) 35 mg (loss) 100 mg (loss)
(1997)
0.6 2 Years 90 mg (loss) 20 mg (loss) 70 mg (loss) 70 mg (loss)

0.5 24 Weeks 4 mg (loss) 10 mg (loss) 14 mg (loss) 12 mg (loss)

0.5 2 Years 9 mg (loss) 50 mg (loss) 110 mg (loss) 100 mg (loss)

Raupach (1996) OPC concrete 0.5 24 Weeks 1.3 mg (loss) 2.4 mg (loss) 3.7 mg (loss) 2.1 mg (loss)
cover 35 mm 0.6 3.5 mg (loss) 13.7 mg (loss) 26.4 mg (loss) 65.7 mg (loss)

0.5 2 Years 4.9 mg (loss) 38.8 mg (loss) 107.1 mg (loss) 83.5 mg (loss)

0.6 11.3 mg (loss) 30.7 mg (loss) 104.8 mg (loss) 110.7 mg (loss)

Cover 15 mm 0.6 24 Weeks 123.6 124.7 158.4 241.3

Cover 15 mm 0.6 2 Years 243.9 268.4 273.1 365.8

 Fig. 1 Effect of transverse crack widths on corrosion of steel in different concretes.

Fig. 2 Effect of crack widths on steel loss due to corrosion of steel in different concretes.

the chloride penetration and corrosion of steel as it depends

on the concrete cover. The thicker the concrete cover the
higher the possibility of forming ‘‘V-shape’’ cracks than
‘‘parallel-wall’’ cracks in the case of thin concrete cover
under bending loads. In V-shape cracks the width of crack
towards the reinforcing steel is smaller than at the concrete
surface. In a study, Audenaert et al. (2009) evaluated the
effect of different crack depths of 5, 10, 15 and 20 mm on
the penetration of chlorides in concrete with parallel-wall
crack width of 0.2 mm. It was observed that the chloride
penetration depth increased with increase in crack depths
irrespective of immersion periods of cracked specimens in
salt solution. The effect of depths of parallel-wall cracks on
chloride diffusion of concretes with different w/c ratios is
also studied by Stitmannaithum et al. (2013), where increase
Fig. 3 Effect of longitudinal cracks on corrosion of steel in
concretes. Data from Poursaee and Hansson (2008) in chloride diffusion with increase in crack depth and w/c

International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials

 Fig. 4 Effect of crack frequency on cumulative weight loss due to corrosion (Arya and Darko 1996).

Fig. 6 Effect of crack depths and water–cement ratio on

chloride diffusion of cracked concretes (Stitman-
naithum et al. 2013)

future for better understanding of their influence on service

life of RC structures (Blagojevic et al. 2012).

6. Effects of SCMs

Fig. 5 Effect of number of cracks on corrosion current of steel The effects of crack widths on corrosion of steel in SCMs
in concrete (Schiebl and Raupach 1997). modified cracked concretes are also evaluated by a number
of researchers and their summarised results are presented in
Fig. 7. It can be seen that the corrosion currents of cracked
SCMs modified concretes are lower than its counterpart
ratios is also reported (see Fig. 6). While no corrosion test ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete for all crack
results on the effect of widths of parallel-face cracks are widths. The better corrosion resistance of cracked SCMs
available, it can be argued that in real situation the corrosion modified concretes can be attributed to their denser
of steel will be less in V-shape cracks. This has been microstructure and lower porosity than OPC concrete.
reflected in Scott and Alexander’s (2007) study, where cor- Although in the crack area (anode zone) the access of
rosion current decreased with increase in concrete cover aggressive substances in both OPC and SCMs modified
depth or in other words cracks depth. It should be noted that concretes is same, the availability of oxygen and moisture in
in their study cracks in the concrete cover were formed the cathode region next to the anode region (crack area) (see
through three points bending of RC beam specimens, which Fig. 8) should be much lower in SCMs modified concretes
supposed to form V-shaped cracks. Therefore, appropriate due to its dense microstructure than in OPC concrete and by
experimental set-up is required to interconnect the impact of controlling the availability of oxygen and moisture in the
crack width, crack frequency and crack depth on chloride cathode region the corrosion of steel in concrete can be
induced corrosion in a simulated marine environment in significantly reduced.

International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials

 Fig. 7 Effect of SCMs on corrosion of steel in concrete having different crack widths.

cracked ring-shaped mortar specimens. They found that the

crack opening significantly affects the ability of carbon
dioxide to diffuse along the crack walls. On the other hand,
Dang et al. (2013) reported a study on the effects of cracks
on both initiation and propagation of corrosion of re-bar due
to carbonation. Ring shaped mortar specimens reinforced
with 8 mm diameter steel bar were cracked with different
crack widths ranging from 0.12 to 0.6 mm. Then the spec-
imens were subjected to carbon dioxide environment for
different durations to assess the carbonation profile in cracks
and along the interface between steel and concrete and
corrosion of steel. The authors reported that irrespective of
width of cracks, the carbon dioxide reached the interface
between the steel and the mortar and caused corrosion of
steel in the mortar specimen. Miyazato and Otsuki (2010)
also studied the effect of crack width of 0.5 mm on car-
Fig. 8 Schematic of corrosion cells formed in cracked
bonation induced corrosion of steel in concrete with various
concrete.
w/c ratios of 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 and reported that the corrosion
of steel increased with increase in w/c ratios.
7. Effect of Crack Width on Carbonation
Induced Corrosion of Steel
8. Effect of Crack Widths on Chloride
While extensive studies on the effect of cracking on Permeability
chloride penetration and chloride induced corrosion of steel
in cracked concrete are conducted, relatively very few are Availability of chloride ions is one of the important factors
reported on carbonation induced corrosion of steel in for initiation of corrosion of steel in concrete, because the
cracked concrete. Carbon-dioxide reduces the pH of the pore availability of certain amount of chlorides above the
solution in the concrete which destroys passive film on steel threshold content de-passivates the steel in the concrete.
bars and initiate corrosion. Generally, uniform corrosion of Therefore, the availability of chloride ions above the
steel bars happens due to carbonation and this type of cor- threshold limit has a direct relationship with corrosion of
rosion occurs in dry concrete as CO2 can’t diffuse through steel in concrete and the presence of cracks thus has obvious
the saturated cracks or pores. Contrary to chloride environ- influence on the penetration of chlorides into concrete.
ment, the effect of crack openings on the diffusion of carbon Several researchers studied the permeability of chlorides
dioxide to the steel–concrete interface and subsequent cor- through cracked concretes. Like the corrosion, conflicting
rosion of steel in concrete has not been widely studied. Al- results on the effect of crack widths on chloride penetration
Ahmad et al. (2009) reported an investigation on the influ- are also available. For example, Aldea et al. (1999) evalu-
ence of crack opening on carbon dioxide penetration in ated the effects of various crack widths ranging from 0.05 to

International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials

Fig. 9 Effect of crack widths on chloride ion penetration
(Aldea et al. 1999) (COD crack widths on the concrete
Fig. 11 Effect of crack widths on total chloride penetration
surface).
(Ismail et al. 2008).

Fig. 10 Effect of crack widths on chloride penetration depth

(Win et al. 2004) (note S1, S2, S3 and S5 indicates
the crack widths of 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.5 mm,
respectively). Fig. 12 Chloride ion diffusion in cracked OPC concrete, HPC
concrete and that containing silica fume (Djerbi et al.
2008).

0.4 mm on the chloride penetration in concrete and reported 9. Effect of Cracking on Oxygen Permeability
an increasing trend of chloride penetration in terms of total of Concrete
charge passed with increase in crack widths (see Fig. 9). In
another study, Win et al. (2004) and Ismail et al. (2008) also In addition to the presence of chlorides, CO2 and moisture
reported increasing trend of chloride ion penetration and oxygen is also essential for the formation of corrosion
chloride ion diffusion with increase in crack widths as can be products through reaction of free Fe2? in anodic region with
seen in Figs. 10 and 11, respectively. Ismail et al. (2008) also the hydroxyl ions (OH–) in cathodic region. Therefore oxy-
reported no chloride ion diffusion below the crack widths of gen permeability of cracked concrete will also be useful to
0.03 mm with the ability of self-healing to impede chloride control the corrosion of steel in concrete as dense uncracked
diffusion at crack width below 0.06 mm. Djerbi et al. (2008) concrete cover generally reduced the availability of oxygen
also reported increase in chloride diffusion coefficient with on steel surface (Mohammed et al. 2003) and a slower
increase in crack widths up to about 0.25 mm (see Fig. 12). cathodic reaction is expected for the regions with low oxygen
They also observed that chloride ion diffusion is higher in availability. In a limited number of studies the oxygen per-
cracked OPC concrete than that containing silica fume for meability of cracked concrete and cementitious composites is
each crack width. However, Rodriguez and Hooton (2003) evaluated. Mohammed et al. (2001a, b) studied the oxygen
and Jang et al. (2011) did not observed any trends of chlo- permeability of cracked concrete beams containing plain steel
ride ion diffusion with different crack widths (see Figs. 13, bar and deformed steel bar. Both beams were subjected to
14). The chloride ion diffusion was found to be much lower same load to create flexural cracks on the tension side of the
in the case of cracked concrete containing slag for all mea- beams. Results show higher oxygen permeability in the
sured crack widths in Rodriguez and Hooton’s study with cracked beam reinforced with deformed bar than its coun-
almost same chloride diffusion for all crack widths up to terpart plain bar reinforced cracked beam. Bigger width of
0.6 mm (see Fig. 13b). cracks in the cracked beam reinforced with deformed bar than

International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials

 Fig. 14 Chloride diffusion coefficient of cracked concrete
(Jang et al. 2011).

by Reinhardt and Jooss (2003) where cracked concrete

having crack widths of 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15 mm reduced the
water flow rate by 97, 95 and 85%, respectively after 300 h
of flow test. The concrete in their study contained about 10%
fly ash and 10% micro silica. According to them the sig-
Fig. 13 Chloride diffusion coefficient of a cracked OPC nificant reduction in water flow is due to self-healing of the
concrete and b concrete containing 25% slag (Ro-
cracks. Their research also shows that higher temperatures
driguez and Hooton 2003).
such as 50 and 80 °C favour the growth of self-healed
those of plain bar RC beam is the reason for higher oxygen products in the same crack width than at 20 °C, presumably
permeability observed in that study. The ribs in the deformed due to the faster hydration reaction at higher temperature.
bar is the reason for bigger crack width in the former beam Evidence of effect of self-healing of micro-cracks on the
than the latter beam. In another study, Mohammed et al. water permeability of fibre reinforced cementitious com-
(2002) reported significantly higher oxygen permeability of posites (FRCCs) is also observed in Nishiwaki et al. (2014)’s
concrete made by higher w/c ratio than the lower w/c ratio for study where water permeability significantly reduced in
the same crack width of 0.3 mm. Uncracked region showed cracked FRCC having crack widths below 0.2 mm due to
significantly lower oxygen permeability than the cracked the self-healing of those cracks. The only reported study
region irrespective of w/c. where the corrosion current of steel was measured in self-
healed crack concrete containing fly ash and slag in a long
term study of 15 years in marine environment (Mohammed
10. Effect of Healing of Cracks on Corrosion et al. 2002). In that study three types of cements were used
of Steel namely the OPC, slag cements of type A, B and C (SCA,
SCB and SCC) and fly ash cement. Their results show that
While concrete structures crack due to various reasons, the small crack widths (* 0.5 mm) healed autogenously
some of the cracks also heal autogenously. Autogenous irrespective of type of binder in the concrete as evidenced by
healing is the ability of concrete to heal its cracks itself. In the measured low micro-cell current density shown in
the presence of moisture, free calcium hydroxide and cal- Fig. 15. Significantly lower current density were observed in
cium oxide in cement matrix reacts with CO2 in atmosphere above concretes containing smaller crack widths (e.g., below
and generates white colour calcium carbonate on the cracks 0.3 mm crack width) (see the bottom graph in Fig. 15) than
faces and seals them either partially or fully. It has been that of bigger crack widths as shown in top graph in Fig. 15.
observed in many studies that the smaller crack widths heal The formation of self-healed products on those smaller
more easily than its wider counterparts in concrete and cracks is the cause for such low current density. Among
cementitious composites (Edvardsen 1999; Mohammed various concretes having same crack width, the concretes
et al. 2003; Sahmaran and Yaman 2008; Nishiwaki et al. containing fly ash and slag exhibited lower current density
2014). However, the healing of cracks either fully and par- than that of control OPC concrete, even the concretes con-
tially significantly affect the penetration of chlorides and the taining fly ash and slag having bigger crack widths (e.g., 0.2
corrosion of steel in concrete. Edvardsen (1999) found that and 0.3 mm) exhibited lower current densities than OPC
the mean water flow rate of cracked concrete with 0.1 mm concrete with 0.1 mm crack width. The continued poz-
width decreased significantly than that of crack width of zolanic activity of fly ash and slag is responsible for the
0.3 mm. The formation of calcium carbonate crystals on the formation of more self-healed and hydration products on the
crack face of 0.1 mm crack width is the reason for such low crack surface which reduced the ingress of chloride ions and
water flow rate this that study. Similar result is also reported subsequent reduction of corrosion.

International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials

 Cracking is also unavoidable in RC structures during its
service life, which adversely affects its corrosion durability.
While this is an important durability issue for RC not much
research are reported in the literature especially in archival
journals. Within available articles conflicting results on the
effect of cracking on corrosion of steel in concrete are also
reported. This paper reviewed the available results and the
following can be summarised on the effects of cracking on
corrosion of steel in cracked concrete:
(1) An increasing trend of corrosion of steel with widths of
transverse cracks is observed up to crack width of
0.3 mm. However, no such trend is observed beyond
this crack width limit.
(2) The longitudinal cracks are found to be more severe in
terms of corrosion of steel in concrete than transverse
cracks of same width.
(3) Cracked SCM modified concretes exhibited superior
corrosion resistance than cracked OPC concrete of
same width of transverse as well as longitudinal
crack.
(4) Among two reported studies on the effect of crack
frequency (number of cracks in a certain length) on
corrosion of steel in cracked concrete, no trend can
be established. The theory proposed by Schiebl and
Raupach (1997) seems more logical as it is evi-
Fig. 15 Micro-cell current densities of unhealed cracks and denced in corrosion behaviour in multiple cracks of
healed cracks of various concretes after 15 years of SHCCs.
marine exposure (Mohammed et al. 2002). (5) Corrosion of steel in cracked concrete supposed to
increase with increase in crack depths as chloride
By comparing all reported results on the effect of crack penetration depth as well as chloride diffusion increase
widths on chloride ion or carbon-dioxide penetration and with increase in crack depths. The corrosion test result,
corrosion of steel in concrete no distinct trend can be however, shows an opposite trend presumably due to
established, except in few studies. If the effect of any par- availability of less oxygen on the steel surface in
ticular crack width on chloride ion or carbon-dioxide pene- cathodic region under thick concrete cover.
tration and corrosion of steel in concrete is considered, it can (6) Chloride ion penetration and diffusion is also influ-
be seen that for the same crack width the penetration of enced by the widths of transverse cracks, however,
chloride ions or carbon-dioxide and corrosion of steel is conflicting results are also reported in this case.
different for different w/c ratios, SCMs types and their Diffusion of carbon dioxide through cracks also
contents in the concretes of same concrete cover. It clearly increases with increase in crack widths and with
shows that crack width is not the only factor accelerates the increase in w/c ratios for a constant crack width.
ingress of chloride ions or carbon-dioxide and corrosion of (7) Self-healing of small crack widths reduced the water
steel, quality of concrete also plays an important role. By permeability and corrosion of steel in cracked concrete.
lowering the w/c ratios and incorporating SCMs the con- The presence of cracks increase the oxygen perme-
crete’s porosity can be reduced and the ingress of chloride ability of in cracked concrete and it reduced with
ions or carbon-dioxide, oxygen and moisture can be signif- reduction of crack width and w/c ratio.
icantly reduced. Therefore, in addition to control the crack
width the improvement of the quality of concrete is also
important as slightly bigger crack widths of good quality Open Access
concrete supposed to perform similar corrosion resistance to
poor quality concrete with smaller crack widths. This is also This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative
valid for longitudinal cracks and for crack depth. Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits un
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Corrosion of reinforcing steel in concrete is an important license, and indicate if changes were made.
durability issue during service life of RC structures.

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