OpenSeesPy-Based Web Application for Pushover Curve Computation of RC Bridge Piers Subject to Arbitrarily Non-uniform Corrosion Patterns

Abstract

Existing reinforced concrete (RC) bridge piers are often subject to complex spatially non-uniform steel corrosion patterns typically due to water percolation and exposition to environmental agents. This produces degradation of strength and ductility of the pier, which may significantly influence the seismic performances of bridges. The computation of pushover curves of corroded RC piers can be carried out by fiber-beam-column elements combined with suitable degradation laws for the uniaxial materials. For this purpose, a multi-level fiber-based modeling procedure is proposed based on a partition of the pier into zones characterized by different cross-sections with fiber discretizations reproducing the sectional deterioration pattern. A web application based on OpenSeesPy is defined to implement this procedure. This includes an interface developed by React JS and Boostrap V5 and an APIs layer based on the Flask framework. Through the interface, users can insert the parameters needed for the structural response simulation, which is, then, performed by employing the numerical procedure developed in Python. At the end of the computation, users can visualize and download the results or vary the input parameters to perform new simulations. The web application runs in a Docker container, making it easy to deploy on cloud platforms or on-premises solutions. Numerical simulations of real specimens affected by material deterioration are performed.