Ultimate compressive strength of deteriorated steel web plate with pitting and uniform corrosion wastage

Abstract

Steel structural members are likely exposed to corrosive environments, and thus corrosion is one of the dominant life-limiting factors of steel structures. Extensive studies on the effectsof pitting and uniform corrosion on the strength performance of steel structural members under a wide variety of loading conditions have been undertaken to assess the relationship between pitting corrosion intensity and residual strength. The aim of this study is to investigate the ultimate compressive strength characteristics of steel web plate elements with pit and uniform corrosion wastage. A series of ABAQUSnonlinear elastic-plastic large deformation finite element analyses are carried out on I-shapedsection steel girder models with varying pittingcorrosion intensities. Artificial pitting of different intensities is considered on the web plates and a uniform loading applied vertically on the upper flange section. The ultimate load-carrying capacity of deteriorated models with different levels of uniform thickness loss is also studied. The results are applied to assessing the ultimate compressive strength of web plates with different pitting corrosion intensities and a uniform loss thicknessby developing design formulae that represent the average loss thickness versus the ultimate load-carrying capacity.