Semi-Quantitative Assessment Framework for Corrosion Damaged Slab-on-Girder Bridge Columns Using Simplified Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis
Creators: name: Mohammed, Amina
Publisher: name: Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa
Year: 2014
Subjects: Finit Element Analysis
Assessment Framework
Limit States
Corrosion Damaged Slab-on-Girder Bridge Columns

description: Most of existing North American bridge infrastructure is reported to be deficient. Present infrastructure management mainly relies on qualitative evaluation, where bridge safety and serviceability are judged through routine visual inspection. With the successive increase in the number of severely deficient bridges and the limited available resources, it is crucial to develop a performance-based quantitative assessment evaluation approach that enables an accurate estimation of aging bridges ultimate and seismic capacities and ensures their serviceability. Reinforcement corrosion is the main cause of most of North American concrete infrastructure deterioration. Experimental investigations prove that reinforcement corrosion results in reduction of the steel reinforcement cross sectional area, localized (or global in very extreme cases) loss of bond action, concrete spalling, loss of core concrete confinement, and structural collapse. Field observations show that damage due to reinforcement corrosion in reinforced concrete (RC) bridge columns is localized in highly affected zones by splash of deicing water. In this thesis, an innovative performance-based semi-quantitative assessment framework is developed using newly developed simplified nonlinear static and dynamic finite element analysis approaches. The framework integrates the bridge’s available design and after-construction information with enhanced inspection and additional material testing as sources for accurate input data. In order to evaluate the structural performance and the capacity of the corrosion-damaged bridge columns, four nonlinear static and dynamic analysis approaches have been developed: (i) simplified nonlinear sectional analysis (NLSA) approach that presents the basis of the analysis approaches to estimate the ultimate and seismic capacities, and serviceability of bridge columns; (ii) simplified nonlinear finite element analysis (NLFEA) approach, which enables estimating the ultimate structural capacity of corrosion-damaged RC columns; (iii) simplified hybrid linear/nonlinear dynamic finite element analysis (SHDFEA) approach to evaluate the serviceability of the bridge; and, (iv) simplified non-linear seismic analysis (SNLSA) approach to evaluate the seismic capacity of the bridge columns. The four analysis approaches are verified by comprehensive comparisons with available test experimental and analytical results. The proposed semi-quantitative assessment framework suggests three thresholds for each performance measure of the evaluation limit states to be decided by the bridge management system team. Case studies are presented to show the integrity and the consistency of using the proposed assessment framework. The proposed assessment framework together with the analysis approaches provide bridge owners, practicing engineers, and management teams with simplified and accurate evaluation tools, which lead to reduce the maintenance/rehabilitation cost and provide better safety, and reduce the variation in the data collected using only traditional inspection methods.