Fatigue of Bridge Steel Wire: A Corrosion Pit Evolution Model under the Effects of Wind and Vehicles

Abstract

To investigate the damage evolution behavior of corroded steel wires under the influence of alternating loads, a damage evolution model for steel wires based on the theory of continuous damage mechanics was established. The damage evolution process at corrosion pits was simulated by using the element birth and death technique in ANSYS 2020R2. Then, a certain cable-stayed bridge was chosen as the research subject, the stress–time data of the sling were computed using a traffic–bridge–wind simulation analysis model, and the influence of corrosion pit distribution on the mechanical properties and fatigue life of wires under an alternating load was discussed. The results show that, in comparison to single-pitted steel wires, double-pits distributed circumferentially across the cross-section of the steel wires lead to more severe stress concentration, accelerating the damage evolution process and significantly reducing the fatigue life of the steel wires. Conversely, the stress concentration caused by double pits distributed along the longitudinal direction of steel wire is similar to that caused by single pits, and it will be even weaker than that caused by single pits with the change in the relative distance of the double pits. Based on the calculation results of the damage evolution model of steel wire, it was found that the corrosion pit crack nucleation life of steel wire under alternating load accounts for nearly 80% of the fatigue life of steel wire, and different corrosion pit distribution modes will significantly affect the fatigue life of steel wire.