Consequence of Corrosion on Dynamic Behaviour of Steel Bridge Members

Deterioration of steel bridge infrastructures constitutes a major worldwide problem in transportation engineering and maintenance management industry. Corrosion and fatigue cracking may be the two most important types of damage in aging structures. Various kinds of failures and the need of expensive replacements may occur even though the amount of metal destroyed is quite small. One of the major harmful effects of corrosion is the reduction of metal thickness leading to loss of mechanical strength and structural failure, causing severe disastrous and hazardous injuries to people. Furthermore, some recent earthquakes demonstrated the potential seismic vulnerability of some types of steel bridges. Corrosion and its effects can trigger the damages caused by earthquakes and it would be vital to understand the behavior of existing steel bridges which are corroding for decades in future severe seismic events. Therefore, this paper proposes a methodology to estimate the reduction of seismic strength capacities due to corrosion, which can be used to make rational decisions about the maintenance management plan of steel highway and railway infrastructures.