Influence of local corrosion on behavior of steel I-beams subjected to end patch loading: Experiments

A total of eleven loading tests were conducted to study the influence of local corrosion on the behavior of steel I beams subjected to end patch loading. The test parameters included: corrosion pattern (web corrosion, and flange corrosion), corroded length (100 mm, 200 mm, and 300 mm), corroded thickness (4 mm, and 6 mm), and length of the bearing plate (80 mm, and 160 mm). Comparisons have been made between the test results and the predicted strengths using current design codes: AISC, AASHTO, and EN1993-1-5. The test results indicate that the web corrosion has a more detrimental effect than the flange corrosion. The behavior of the steel I-beams (e.g., ultimate load, web deformation, and flange and web's strains) is significantly affected by the corroded thickness of the web. However, this is mainly related to the web corrosion within the flange diffusion range. In general, the web local yielding provisions in AISC and AASHTO give the best prediction.