LOCAL BUCKLING BEHAVIOR AND STRENGTH EVALUATION OF CORRODED STEEL SHAPES

Abstract

In recent years, serious damages of aging steel structures and the related accidents have often been reported, it is imperative to assess the structural health conditions and take necessary measures to sustain the functions of the structures. In this paper, paying an attention to local buckling, the behavior and strength of corroded steel angle and channel stub columns were studied with FEM analyses using geometry information obtained directly from the corroded steel shapes. Through the detailed behavioral observations in the analyses, stress redistribution within the cross sections was identified even in corroded steel members after initiation of elastic local buckling. It was also pointed out that the ultimate strengths of the corroded steel stub columns were reasonably evaluated based on traditional effective width theory using mean thickness of each plate element.