Time dependent analysis of lateral bearing capacity of reinforced concrete piles combined with corrosion and scour

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of chlorine corrosion and flow scour on the lateral bearing capacity of piles. A chloride diffusion model was established to obtain the initial corrosion time of reinforcement based on Fick's second law. The degradation of stiffness after corrosion is represented by a reduction coefficient. The finite difference method is used to solve the deflection differential equation of laterally loaded piles. The maximum scouring depth of piles in cohesive soil and the variation of scouring depth with time are calculated by empirical model. The calculated results from the analytical solution revealed that the pile stiffness decreases with the exposure time. As the time increase, the lateral displacement and shear force decrease on the other hand the bending moment increases. The increase of flow velocity and pile diameter results in the increase of the maximum scour depth around the pile. The bending moment, shear force, and lateral displacement of piles after scour increase significantly compared to the lateral bearing performance of piles before scour.