Evaluation of tensile strength deterioration of steel Bridge plates due to corrosion

Abstract

Over the past decades there have been many damage examples of older steel bridge structures due to corrosion around the world. Even though there are some published methods to assess the strength reduction due to corrosion of bridges, it is hard to find any with lesser number of measuring variables which eventually accounts for the accuracy and the convenience of the investigation for adequate bridge management. So, in this study, a simple method of calculating the remaining yield and tensile strength by using a concept of representative effective thickness (teff) with correlation of initial thickness (t0) and standard deviation of thickness (σst) is proposed, based on the results of many tensile coupon tests of corroded plates obtained from a steel plate girder used for about 100 years with severe corrosion.