INTRODUCTION:

A bond can be thought of as the shearing stress or force between a reinforcing bar and the
surrounding concrete. It is the stress generated, when external load is applied, at the bar-concrete
interface which modifies the steel stresses by transferring load between the bar and the
surrounding concrete. This bond, when efficiently developed, enables the two materials to form a
composite structure. {PARK N PAULAY}
A bond is made up of three components: a) chemical adhesion b) friction and c) mechanical
interaction between concrete and steel. In plain reinforcing bars the first two elements are the
primary factors in creating the bond whereas deformed bars depend primarily on mechanical
interlocking for higher bond properties. This does not mean that the remaining factors are
negligible but that they are secondary. HANDBOOK

UNBONDEDNESS IN PLAIN BARS:

Bond strength was a more serious problem when only plain reinforcing bars were used. Plain bars
without surface deformations provide bond strength only by the relatively weak chemical adhesion
and friction between steel and concrete. However, this natural strength is so low that in beams
reinforced with plain bars the bond between steel and concrete is frequently broken. If the
reinforced concrete beams were constructed using plain round reinforcing bars, and furthermore, if
those bars were to be greased or otherwise lubricated before the concrete were poured, the beam
would be very little stronger than if it were built of plain concrete, without reinforcement. If a load
were applied, the bar would tend to maintain their original length as the beam deflects. The bar
would slip longitudinally with respect to the adjacent concrete, pulls out from the encasing
concrete, which would experience tensile strain due to flexure and the fundamental proposition on
which the mechanics of reinforced concrete is based, that the strain in an embedded reinforcing bar
is same as that in the surrounding concrete, would not be valid. {DESIGN OF CONCRETE
STRUCTURES}

Bond forces due to flexure: a) beam before loading, b) unrestrained slip between concrete and steel

UNBONDEDNESS IN DEFORMED BARS:

Deformed bars provide an extra element of bond strength and safety. The bond failure in deformed
bars could result from concrete crushing at the bearing face of the deformations; by shearing of the
concrete around the outer extremities of the bar; by longitudinal splitting of the of the concrete
cover in the vicinity of the bar; or by a combination of these three failure mode.{HANDBOOK OF
CONCRETE ENGINEERING}

The bond strength developed between two ribs of a bar is associated with:
1. Shear stresses developed through adhesion along the surface of the bar.
2. Bearing stresses against the face of the rib.
3. Shear stresses acting on the cylindrical concrete surface between adjacent ribs.

When the ribs are high and spaced too closely, the shear stresses acting on the concrete surface will
govern the behaviour and the bar will pull out. When the rib spacing is larger than approximately 10
times the rib height, the partly crushed concrete may form a wedge in front of the rib, and failure is
normally brought about by splitting of the surrounding concrete.

The stresses in the concrete surrounding a deformed bar lead to cracks and deformations of the
concrete. The bond stresses transmitted to the concrete subjects the cover thickness of concrete to
eccentric tension. The deformations of the concrete resulting from the stresses generated tend to
pull the concrete away from this steel in the vicinity of the major crack. The tensile strength of the
adhesion bond between steel and the mortar is the reached, and the surrounding concrete
separates from the steel. When the concrete separates itself from around a bar at a primary crack,
the circumference of the concrete surface, previously in contact with the bar, increases hence
circumferential tensile stresses are induced. These stresses can lead to longitudinal splitting cracks.

THE SPLITTING FAILURE:

When the ultimate capacity in bond transfer is being approached, there is crushing in front of the
ribs. The compacted concrete powder, extending in front of the rib at a distance of up to three
times the rib height, forms a flat wedge and this tends to push the concrete further away from the
bar. Hence additional circumferential tensile stresses are generated which may bring about a
splitting failure.

The concrete surrounding a particular bar may be subjected to stresses in addition to those
generated by bond, because it participates in other structural actions. At the intersection of beams
in building frames, compression and tension is induced transversely the bars. Similarly, transverse
tension may be induced in the concrete around the top bars of the beam that support continuous
slabs. Such transverse tensile stresses could lead to early cracking along principal bars and could
adversely affect their bond performance.

EFFECTS OF CORROSION ON STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE:

Corrosion of the reinforcing steel will affect the structural performance of a reinforced concrete
section. The first effect is the corrosion influence on the steel properties. This influence is in two
ways. First, there is a loss of steel section. The corrosion reactions convert the iron atoms into some
other molecule, as described previously. These molecules form a brittle, weak substance that does
not participate in load sharing. Thus it can be assumed that the load the steel can take reduces in
proportion to the steel loss, as has been done in many typical analyses.

The second effect corrosion has on structural performance is related to spalling. This is loss of the
concrete around a bar due to its expansion. Spalling creates two difficulties. First, it can lead to a
loss of bond. It also has the effect of loss of concrete section. This is more critical when the section
that is spalling off is in the compression region. This cm occur if the steel that is rusting is not the
primary reinforcement but is included to control other effects, such as shrinkage and thermal
movement. Unlike the concrete in the tension region, all the concrete in the compression region is
used to resist load. Thus, if concrete is lost, this will have the effect of reducing the capacity of the
member. This may not be critical at low levels of concrete loss due to the design factors of safety. If
allowed to continue, however, then a significant weakening can occur. The beams will then also be
failing in compression, which is a brittle failure. This is undesirable.

EFFECTS OF CORROSION ON BOND:

If the steel is corroded before it is placed, then there is little or no decrease in the bond strength at
low corrosion levels, up to about 1.0 %. There may even be an increase in bond strength. It was felt
that this is because the corrosion products at this level adhere to the bar. They would also increase
the surface roughness.

If the steel corrodes in the concrete, there is a different situation. The expansion of the steel can
cause cracking of the concrete. This will affect the bond strength. A series of tests was conducted on
pullout specimens in whom the slip versus load was measured for different size bars corroded to
different levels. The bars were corroded using impressed current techniques. It was found that
before the appearance of visible cracks, corrosion increased the bond strength. When visible cracks
begin to appear on the surface, then the bond strength dropped down to slightly below the original
level. Once extensive cracking occurred at about 7-8 % of mass loss then the bond strength
decreased to about one third to one quarter of its original level. The slip at ultimate corrosion
strength was found to be approximately the same, however. They attributed this trend to the effect
of increased surface roughness at low corrosion levels and the deterioration of the rebar lugs at
higher levels of corrosion.
RESEARCHES TO STUDY THE EFFECT OF UNBONDEDNESS IN REINFORCED CONCRETE:

A considerable amount of researches have been done to study the behavior and impact of
unbonded bars in reinforced concrete from which some are briefed below:
1. IMPLICATION OF UNBONDEDBESS IN REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS:

In this paper use of PVC pipes were made to create unbondedness in beams in which one had
exposed reinforcement and the intended mode of failure was flexure and shear. 9 specimens were
tested and grouped, according to the failure mode. The beams were tested to failure under three
point loading. To calculate the surface strains demountable mechanical strain gauge, DEMEC, were
used. Surface strains and crack widths at each load increment was measured. Deflections were
measured by two deflectometers, at mid span and under point load.
The results showed that the unbondedness and exposed reinforcement in constant moment region
reduces flexural capacity but is ineffective in constant shear region. For repair works it is possible to
expose significant length of bar without affecting the flexural capacity but the beam should be
supported to avoid deflections. It reduces stiffness and ductility of the beam and also contributes in
changing failure mode.
2. BOND BETWEEN REINFORCEMENT AND CONCRETE- INFLUENCE OF STEEL CORROSION:
Sonebi et al introduced three levels of corrosion to study the bond strength of reinforced steel bars,
along with the effect of cover level and different bar diameters. 24 specimens in all were tested in
which two third specimens were moderately corroded with a 1.5mm width of longitudinal crack and
the remaining one third achieved severe corrosion which led to longitudinal crack width of 8 mm.
The test method use was direct pull out test. Pull out load and reinforced bar slip displacement
were measured by linear variable differential transducer, LVDT.
The results of this paper showed that increase of level of corrosion and diameter of bars reduces
bond strength of reinforcing bars. When severe corrosion was induced the bond strength in top
bars was further reduced as compared to bottom bars but for moderate corrosion there was no
significant difference between top and bottom bars. Increase in concrete cover made an
improvement in bond strength. Also the higher the corrosion level was, increase in crack width was
observed.
3. EFFECT OF BOND LOSS OF TENSION REINFORCEMENT ON THE FLEXURAL BEHAVIOUR OF
REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS: