Experimental investigation on seismic performance of corroded steel columns in offshore atmospheric environment

Abstract

SummaryThis paper presents an experimental and numerical study on seismic performance of corroded steel columns in offshore atmospheric environment. Indoor artificial‐climate accelerated tests on six steel columns and 48 tensile coupons were implemented first. And then the tensile tests were performed to obtain the functional relationships between mechanical properties and mass loss rate for Q235B steel subjected to corrosion. Low‐cyclic reversed loading tests were conducted on six steel columns with different corrosion levels. The influence of corrosion level and axial compression ratio on the failure modes, hysteretic behavior, ductility, stiffness degradation, energy dissipation capacity, the moment–curvature relationships of the plastic hinge region, and equivalent plastic hinge length of the samples were analyzed and discussed. The test results indicate that within a certain range, an increase in corrosion level or axial compression ratio tends to decrease the bearing capacity, deformation capacity, and energy dissipation capacity of steel columns. The axial compression ratio plays an important role in determining the plastic hinge length of steel columns, but the corrosion level has no regular influence on the plastic hinge length. Furthermore, a finite element mode was established. The finite element predictions are in good agreement with the corresponding test results.