ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT This paper summarises results produced from a comprehensive research program on investigation of ferrous metal corrosion and its effect on remaining safe life of ferrous metal structures, including both above ground structures, e.g., steel bridges and underground structures, e.g., cost iron pipelines. The experimental results include corrosion effects on mechanical property of metal at both macro level, e.g., the fundamental stress and strain, and micro level, e.g., element content changes, thereby presenting a cause and effect relationship for corrosion induced material degradation. Numerical results include corrosion effects on fracture failure for both single mode and mixed mode fractures. Analytical results include new solutions to first passage probability which is the most rational method in time-dependent reliability employed for service life prediction of structures. A new solution to upcrossing rate for non-stationary and non-Gaussian processes is presented. Examples are provided to elaborate on new findings presented in the paper.
