Plastic collapse load of corroded steel plates

Abstract

Corrosion is one of the detrimental phenomena which reduces strength of structures. It is common practice to assume a uniform thickness reduction for general corrosion. Since the actual corroded plate has rough surfaces, to estimate the remaining strength of corroded structures, typically a much higher level of accuracy is required. The main aim of present work is to study plastic collapse load of corroded steel plates with irregular surfaces under tension. Non-linear finite element method by using computer code ANSYS was employed to determine plastic collapse load. By comparing the results with uniform thickness assumption, a reduction factor was proposed. It is found that by uniform thickness assumption, plastic collapse load of corroded plates are overestimated.