Reliability assessment of weld corrosion fatigue of coastal heavy duty steel bridge

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Journal of Vibration and Shock ›› 2025, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (5) : 140-148.

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Reliability assessment of weld corrosion fatigue of coastal heavy duty steel bridge

ZHU Jin1, CHEN Yuanwen1, WU Mengxue2, ZHANG Yu3, HENG Junlin*4, LI Yongle1

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Abstract

To investigate the fatigue issues of welds in steel bridges under severe corrosion environments and heavy loading, a three-stage probabilistic corrosion fatigue damage evolution model was developed based on previous experimental results. The model is divided into three key stages: corrosion-driven growth, competition between corrosion and fatigue, and fatigue-driven growth. The model also incorporates the effects of multiple failure paths, considering the initiation, coalescence, and propagation of multi-source fatigue cracks in the welds. Using a coastal bridge as the engineering background, a reliability analysis was conducted through multi-scale finite element simulations combined with the probabilistic corrosion fatigue damage evolution model, integrating the measured vehicle load spectrum and environmental characteristics of the bridge. The results indicate that, compared to the weld toe failure mode, the corrosion fatigue life of the weld root failure mode is reduced by 11.3%, and the dual failure mode life is reduced by 16.3%, with the weld root failure mode being dominant. Under a C5 environment, the corrosion fatigue life is reduced by 26.9% compared to the C4 environment, indicating that the higher the environmental corrosion grade, the shorter the corrosion fatigue life. When the traffic volume coefficients are 1.2% and 2.4%, the corrosion fatigue life decreases by 29.9% and 38.8%, respectively, compared to constant traffic conditions, indicating that the higher the traffic volume, the shorter the corrosion fatigue life. Under the combined effects of severe environmental corrosion and heavy traffic loads, the corrosion fatigue life is reduced by 47.8%, demonstrating significant degradation of the fatigue resistance of welds in steel bridges under the coupled effects of severe corrosion and heavy loads.

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steel bridge / corrosion fatigue / finite element simulation / weld / multi-source fatigue cracks / reliability / coastal / damage evolution

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ZHU Jin1, CHEN Yuanwen1, WU Mengxue2, ZHANG Yu3, HENG Junlin4, LI Yongle1. Reliability assessment of weld corrosion fatigue of coastal heavy duty steel bridge[J]. Journal of Vibration and Shock, 2025, 44(5): 140-148

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