ABSTRACT
Corrosion-fatigue damage is one of the most serious hazards for high-strength steel wires which are widely used in main cables, hangers and prestressed strands of bridge structures. In this study, a continuum damage mechanics approach is proposed to predict the corrosion-fatigue life of high-strength steel wires. A damage variable D is introduced to this approach, and the coupled elasto-plasticity damage constitutive model, the experimental studied-based pit growth model as well as the plastic strain-based damage evolution model under axial stress conditions are all adopted to estimate the damage degrees of steel wires. Based on the above theories, a calculation program is implemented by APDL in ANSYS software. The simulation results show that both the pit shapes and the corrosion environments have a recognizable influence to the corrosion-fatigue life. The continuum damage mechanics approach can well indicate the whole mechanical change process of corrosion-fatigue damage.
