Experimental assessment of the ultimate strength of a box girder subjected to severe corrosion

The objective of this paper is to describe the experimental assessment of the ultimate strength of a severely corroded box girder subjected to a uniform bending moment resulting from four-point loading. Three box girders that could simulate the behaviour of midship sections have been deteriorated in corrosive seawater environment to simulate different levels of corrosion degradation of ageing ship structures. During the deterioration process, various parameters have been controlled and the total weight lost was registered. Corroded plate thicknesses have been measured in 212 points and a statistical analysis has been performed. The resulting corrosion wastage has been fitted by a nonlinear time variant degradation model. The experimental results of the ultimate strength test of a severely corroded box girder subjected to a four-point loading have been analysed. The load-displacement and moment-curvature relationship is discussed, different failure modes are identified, and the strain gauges readings are analysed. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.