An analytical investigation of bond deterioration between rebar and ASR/DEF-damaged concrete with and without stirrup confinement using 3D RBSM

•Stress and crack development in ASR/DEF damaged concrete are simulated by 3D RBSM.•Rebar-mortar interface cracking condition differs due to different damage types.•Number of cracks within concrete and strain development of the stirrup are studied.•Similar deterioration trends for bond strength are seen in ASR/DEF damaged cases. The bond performance between rebar and concrete is essential for the safety of RC structures. There is a need for research on bond deterioration due to the alkali-silica reaction (ASR) and delayed ettringite formation (DEF) damage which affects real structures. In this paper, a parametric study is conducted to quantitatively study the effect of slight-to-severe ASR/DEF damage in the presence of stirrup confinement on the pullout behavior between concrete and reinforcement using three-dimensional rigid body spring model (3D RBSM) simulation. It is found through the simulation that the bond stress in ASR damaged cases increases when ASR expansion before pullout is small and then decreases as the damage level rises, while the bond stress in DEF damaged cases keeps decreasing from the beginning. Besides, higher stirrup confinement effectively mitigates bond deterioration in both ASR and DEF damaged cases when damage is serious. More importantly, stress development and crack propagation during the expansion stage and the pullout stage are visualized. Interface cracking condition varies according to the damage type (ASR or DEF) and the level of stirrup confinement due to different cracking mechanisms. However, the tendency for the number of cracks in the concrete to increase, which reflects the overall damage level in ASR and DEF damaged cases, is similar, resulting in a similar trend for bond stress to decrease.