Reduction of ultimate strength due to corrosion - A finite element computational method

Bridge safety is of paramount importance in transportation engineering and maintenance management. Corrosion causes strength deterioration and weakening of aged steel structures. Therefore, it is a vital task to estimate the remaining strength of corroded steel structures in order to assure the public safety. Due to the economic constraints and increase of number of steel highway and railway bridge structures, it will be an exigent task to conduct tests for each and every aged bridge structure within their bridge budgets. Therefore, this paper proposes a method of evaluating the residual strength capacities by numerical approach and compares the non-linear FEM analyses results with their respective tensile coupon tests. Further, since it is not easy to measure several thousands of points, to accurately reproduce the corroded surface by numerical methods and to predict their yield and ultimate behaviors, a simple and reliable analytical model is proposed by measuring the maximum corroded depth (tc,max), in order to estimate the remaining strength capacities of actual corroded members more precisely