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Structural strength deterioration of coastal bridge piers considering non-uniform corrosion in marine environments

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Abstract

In the aggressive marine environment over a long-term service period, coastal bridges inevitably sustain corrosion-induced damage due to high sea salt and humidity. This paper investigates the strength reduction of coastal bridges, especially focusing on the effects of non-uniform corrosion along the height of bridge piers. First, the corrosion initiation time and the degradation of reinforcement and concrete are analyzed for bridge piers in marine environments. To investigate the various damage modes of the concrete cover, a discretization method with fiber cells is used for calculating time-dependent interaction diagrams of cross-sections of the bridge piers at the atmospheric zone and the splash and tidal zone under a combination of axial force and bending moment. Second, the shear strength of these aging structures is analyzed. Numerical simulation indicates that the strength of a concrete pier experiences dramatic reduction from corrosion initiation to the spalling of the concrete cover. Strength loss in the splash and tidal zone is more significant than in the atmospheric zone when structures’ service time is assumed to be the same.

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Acknowledgment

The authors greatly appreciate financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China with Grant No. 51678197, the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (973 Program) with Grant No. 2011CB013604 and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China with Grant No. HIT.BRETIV.201320.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Structural Dynamic Behavior and Control, School of Civil Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China

    Anxin Guo, Wenting Yuan, Haitao Li & Hui Li

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  1. Anxin Guo
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  2. Wenting Yuan
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  3. Haitao Li
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  4. Hui Li
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Correspondence to Anxin Guo.

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Supported by: National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 51678197, the Major State Basic Research Development Program of China (973 Program) under Grant No. 2011CB013604 and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China with Grant No. HIT.BRETIV.201320

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Guo, A., Yuan, W., Li, H. et al. Structural strength deterioration of coastal bridge piers considering non-uniform corrosion in marine environments. Earthq. Eng. Eng. Vib. 17, 429–444 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11803-018-0451-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11803-018-0451-z

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