Behaviour of prestressed concrete beams damaged by corrosion

European industrial and commercial buildings, as well as parking garages, are commonly built in precast concrete. In many instances this kind of structures are exposed to aggressive environments and therefore deteriorated by corrosion. According to previous literature results, corrosion strongly reduces the bearing-capacity of prestressed reinforced concrete (PRC) members, changing the failure mechanism as well. In the framework of the OPTION research project between Niccolò Cusano University and Oslo Metropolitan University, an experimental campaign investigates the behaviour of corroded prestressed beams. The goal is to estimate the corrosion level making a deteriorated PRC beam less ductile keeping the strength unchanged. In the present paper, the first experimental results are presented