2005 SLOVAK UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY 18 1 INTRODUCTION The process of a concrete cover’s cracking and delamination in corroding reinforced concrete structures results from the creation of corrosion products in the rebars area. The amount of ferrous ions and corrosion products strictly depends on the electric current’s density function. From an electrochemical point of view, the creation of corrosion products can be defined in the form of a summary reaction (the sum of anode and cathode reactions), cf. (Zybura, 1990). (1) The process of a concrete cover’s degradation is a two-stage process. The first part describes the process of the mass transport of and O 2 into the rebar surface area and the initiation of the electrode process. The second part describes the cracking of the concrete cover as the result of the accumulation of corrosion products. In this work an analysis of a concrete cover’s degradation has been presented. The analysis was performed through the use of a Willam – Warnke elastic - brittle model. 2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM A multicomponent media model with a dominant phase (skeleton) will be considered. On the basis of works (Krykowski, 2006), (Krykowski 2005), (Bowen, 1980) it will be assumed that the problem is described by a differential equation of mass and momentum transfer. Additionally, the geometrically linear motion of the skeleton and diffusion mass transport without convection is assumed. The mass flux is assumed in accordance with Fick’s law. However, the constitutive relations from using the relationship resulting from the residual inequality of the problem, T. KRYKOWSKI THE SIMULATION OF CONCRETE FRACTURING PROCESSES AS THE RESULT OF REINFORCEMENT CORROSION KEY WORDS • FEM, • concrete cracking, • nonlinear material, • corrosion. ABSTRACT This work presentsa simulation of a concrete cover’s cracking process as a result of corrosion. An elastic - brittle material model with a distortion effect which depends on an electric current was defined. Finally, an exemplary analysis was presented. Dr. T. Krykowski, ul. Akademicka 5 44-100 Gliwice, Poland, +48 32-237-15-42, Tomasz.Krykowski@polsl.pl. Professional career: 1996 – MSc, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice; 2001 – PhD, Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice. Main research interests: Mechanics of continuous media, finite element method, nonlinear mechanics, degradation processes of concrete. 2006 SLOVAK UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY 2006/3 – 4 PAGES 18 – 22 RECEIVED 18. 9. 2006 ACCEPTED 27. 11. 2006 Krykowski.indd 18 7. 5. 2007 13:30:21