Numerical Studies On Corroded Steel Angle Members

Journal of Structural Engineering
Vol. 43, No. 2, June - July 2016 pp. 197-205
No. 43-20
Numerical studies on corroded steel angle members

R. Vikraman*,, A. Cinitha* and P.K. Umesha*
Email: vikramanradha@gmail.com
*CSIR-Structural Engineering Research Centre, CSIR-Campus, Taramani, Chennai - 600 113, India.
Received: ;Accepted:
Steel structures corrode when exposed to the corrosive environment such as marine, industrial and humid and hence
the strength of steel structural members reduces. Steel angle sections are widely used in transmission line micro wave
towers and their performance is effected as they corrode. This paper presents the numerical studies on uncorroded,
corroded and retrofitted angle specimens considered as compression members and are compared with experimental
results. The cross sections considered are ISA 70 70 5mm, 75 75 5mm and 100 100 6mm. Numerical
studies were also conducted by using ABAQUS finite element (FE) based software and the results of the FE models are
validated with that of the experimental studies and presented.
Keywords: Accelerated corrosion; carbon fiber reinforced polymer; compression strength; retrofitting.
Steel structures may have to be retrofitted due to

various reasons. One of the major problems facing steel
structures is corrosion, which effectively reduces the
gross cross sectional area of steel members thus leading
to higher stresses in the corroded area. Reduction of
member thickness results in the reduction of cross
section properties thus affecting the buckling capacity
of the members. Carbon fiber reinforced polymer
(CFRP) is considered as suitable for structures in
corrosive environment due to its high-strength, lightweight, and anti-corrosive qualities. In recent years,
a continuous increase has been experienced in using
carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) for structural
strengthening as well as repair works. In this paper,
residual capacity of the corroded members is evaluated
by classifying the section according to the level of
corrosion. A damage model was proposed by Kayser
and Nowak (1989) which evaluated the reliability of a
corroded steel girder bridge over time. Another theory
called interval probability theory was proposed by
Sarveswaran (1999) for assessing the reliability of
corrosion-damaged steel structures. Using this theory,

the remaining thickness of a severely corroded element

was represented by an interval number, which expressed
the range over which there was uncertainty about the
thickness. Later, a methodology was developed by
Hathout (2004) for assessing the reliability of existing
transmission structures and lines in the presence of
structural deterioration. Enhance the simplified method
to calculate the residual capacity of corroded members
according to the average residual thickness is evaluated.
Due to corrosion, the capacity of the members reduces.
The amount of reduction varies w.r.t the level and
location of corrosion. Beaulieu et al. (2010) reported
that, the corrosion results in significant changes in
sectional area, causing major changes to the compressive
capacity of the steel angle members. Studies on steel
angle and tubular sections by Cinitha et al. (2014) point
out that apart from imperfections corrosion results in
changes in geometric properties such as cross sectional
area, moment of inertia and slenderness ratio. For same
percentage of corrosion with different locations it is
found that ultimate load carrying capacity reduced by
1.5%-37.91%. For corroded hollow tubular structural
Vol. 43, No. 2, June - july 2016
197
members with varying percentage of corrosion (20%40%), it is found that ultimate load carrying capacity
reduced by 10%.-25%. And Aparna et al. (2014) studied
experimental investigation of compressive strength of
uniformly corroded steel angle members retrofitted with
CFRP and concluded that external bonding of CFRP is a
promising alternative strengthening technique for steel
structures. This paper studies numerical investigation on
corroded and retrofitted steel angle sections, corroded
by galvanostatic method and retrofitted using CFRP
composites with epoxy adhesives. The specimens
were then subjected to compression testing in order to
understand the strength performance and then numerical
investigations were carried out and discussed.
Corrosion is defined as the physical interaction
between a metal and its environment which results in
changes of the metals properties and which may lead
to significant functional impairment of the metal, the
environment or the technical system of which they form
a part. This interaction is often of an electrochemical
nature. Among the various forms of corrosion,
present study focus on uniform or general corrosion.
This is a surface phenomenon, which occur through
uniform attack of metal resulting from the contact
with certain strongly acidic or alkaline electrolytes as
well as conditions of high humidity or moisture-laden
atmosphere. This is the most common form of the
corrosion, which will lead to the gradual thinning of
members, accordingly for the greatest destruction of
metal. As it occurs evenly over the entire surface, the
rate of corrosion is often presented as a weight loss.
Uniform corrosion is very predictable, and is the basis
of most corrosion prediction equations. Also it has
been pointed out that this type of corrosion is the most
serious form of corrosion observed on steel structures.

Structural behaviour of corroded,
uncorroded members
In order to understand the behavior of corroded and
retrofitted angle compression members, experimental
and numerical studies were conducted. Numerical
results were validated with experiments. Totally nine
angle specimens were considered, with three sets. Each
set contains 1) Angle UnCorroded (AUC), 2) Angle
corroded (AC) and 3) Angle corroded and retrofitted
(ARC). Galvanostatic method with 3.5% NaCl is
adopted as electrolyte to achieve the desired amount of
corrosion. The corroded specimens are retrofitted with
one layer of CFRP strip by using Araldite AW106 resin
and HV 953U epoxy as hardener with a weight ratio of
10:8. The manufactures have provided the properties of
CFRP as modulus of elasticity; 295600N/mm2, Tensile
strength; 378.2N/mm2; Density; 1.69E-9ton/mm3 and
Poissons ratio as 0.33.
After achieving the desired amount of corrosion, the
angle specimen to be retrofitted was properly grounded
and cleaned with acetone in order to have a proper
binding with CFRP. The resin and the hardener were
then mixed in proportion and applied with a spatula to
the pretreated surfaces. Immediately after applying the
resin-hardener mix to the surface with a painting brush,
CFRP was properly pasted to the corroded portion of the
specimen. After pasting CFRP to the corroded surface,
one more coat of the resin-hardener mix was applied
over the CFRP in order to have proper binding and to
protect the fibers from getting damaged. The specimen
details are shown in Fig 1. The thickness and mass loss
observed after corrosion is given in Table 1.
Table 1
Thickness and weight measurements of ISA 100 100 6 specimens
ID
Size of the
specimen (mm)
Length (mm)
IL1 (mm)
IL2 (mm)
FL1 (mm)
FL 2 (mm)
Initial weight
(kg)
Final weight
(kg)
AUC- 100
100 100 6
1000
6.272
6.767
16.55
16.55
AC - 100
100 100 6
1000
6.456
6.334
5.59
5.27
16.49
15.87
100 100 6 (C)
1000
6.6
6.54
4.997
5.494
16.94
100 100 6 (R)
8.22
8.165
16.61
ARC - 100
*AUC-Angle Un corroded, AC-Angle Corroded, ARC-Angle Retrofitted after Corrosion

IL1-Initial thickness of leg1, IL2-Initial thickness of leg2
FL1-Final thickness for corroded/retrofitted leg1, FL2- Final thickness for corroded/retrofitted leg2.
198


ID
70
LOCATION OF RETROFIT
AUC - 70 5
LOCATION OF CORROSION
1000
AC - 70 5
Corroded region
345
Corroded region
ARC - 70 5
Corroded and Retrofitted region
75
345
AUC - 75 5
1200
Corroded region
AC - 75 5
445
Corroded region
ARC - 75 5
100
445
AUC - 100 8
1000
Corroded region
AC - 100 6
345
Corroded region
ARC - 100 6
345
Fig. 1 Details of the corroded, uncorroded and retrofitted angle specimens
The details of materials required for retrofitting are

as follows
i) Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP)
Carbon fiber is defined as a fiber containing at least

92% carbon by weight. Carbon fibers generally have
excellent tensile properties, low densities, high thermal
and chemical stabilities in the absence of oxidizing
agents, good thermal and electrical conductivities,
excellent creep resistance.
ii) Adhesive
In the present study, the adhesive used for binding

CFRP to steel angle section was Araldite AW 106
resin/Hardener HV 953U epoxy adhesive. It is a multipurpose, viscous material that is suitable for bonding
a variety of materials including metal, ceramic, and
wood. Adhesive and hardener are having different
specific gravity and viscous properties.
Experimental set-up
In the present study compression tests were conducted
under force control method using 500kN hydraulic jack
in order to develop a stable post-buckling behaviour,
199
as shown in Fig. 2, the displacement in axial inplane

buckling and out-ofplane buckling directions were
measured during the tests to observe the nonlinear
behaviour of the angle members. The axial and lateral
direction displacements were measured using linear
variable differential transducer (LVDT). The strain was
measured by using strain gauge the strain gauge and
LVDT were placed at one third of the overall length
from the bottom flange i.e (corroded region).
(a) Boundary
condition
(b) Meshed part
(c) Simulation of uniform

corrosion effect
Fig. 3 Numerical model
Fig. 2 Experimental set up
Numerical studies
Simpson integration method. The solid element used

is C3D8R. It is an eight nodded linear hexahedral
brick element and is used for modelling the relatively
small leg thickness of the angle specimen compared to
the other dimensions which results in local buckling
when subjected to axial compressive load. A kinematic
coupling restraint is defined to constrain the motion
of the top flange plate to the regions below where all
the translational and rotational degrees of freedom are
specified. Reference point is then established in the top
flange plate which passes through the centroid of the
section under consideration. Boundary conditions are
The steel angle members considered for the present

study are intermediate columns with yield strength of
Fy (yield stress) as 360 N/mm2, Fu (ultimate stress) as
466 N/mm2, E (youngs modulus) as 210000N/mm2,
density as 7850 kg/ m3. The behavior of corroded
angle members under compression are numerically
modelled with ABAQUS finite element software. This
study is aimed to simulate compression behavior of
uniformly corroded and retrofitted angle specimens.
Uniform corrosion is modelled by thickness reduction
and CFRP retrofitted behavior is simulated with
Table 2
Details of ISA 70 70 5 and ISA 75 75 5 specimens before and after corrosion
ID
Size of the
specimen (mm)
Length(mm)
AUC- 70
70 70 5
1000
5.05
5.06
AC- 70
70 70 5
1000
5.071
5.099
70 70 5 (C)
1000
5.007
5.034
70 70 5 (R)
75 75 5
1200
5.201
ARC- 70
AUC- 75
AC- 75
ARC- 75
200

IL1 (mm)
FL 2 (mm)
Initial weight
(kg)
Final weight
(kg)
13.91
13.91
4.294
4.406
13.55
12.05
4.648
4.572
13.51
8.405
8.51
13.31
5.171
15.65
15.65
IL2 (mm)
FL1 (mm)
75 75 5
1200
5.277
5.254
4.091
4.152
16.51
15.75
75 75 5 (C)
1200
5.276
5.331
4.44
4.537
16.56
75 75 5 (R)
6.895
6.836
16.26

ARC - 100X6
AC - 100X6
AUC - 100X6
Fig. 4 Comparison of numerical and experimental modes failure for the retrofitted, corroded and uncorroded specimens
400.00
AUC 100 EXP
AUC 100 NUM
AC 100 EXP
AC 100 NUM
ARC 100 EXP
ARC 100 NUM
Axial load (kN)
300.00
200.00
100.00
0.00
2
3
Axial displacement (mm)
Fig. 5 Validation of numerical results with experiments
then given with all translation degrees of freedom at

top surface nodes except the vertical displacement as
fixed and all degrees of freedom restrained at bottom.
Figure 3 shows various stages of numerical model.
Then axial loading condition is simulated by applying
load to the reference point. The STATIC, RIKS
approach is used to solve nonlinear problems. In this

method, load magnitude is considered as an additional

unknown and thus loads and displacements are solved
simultaneously.
The results of interest are the current displacements
and the loads which may be referred to a load
proportionality factor.
The ultimate load is obtained by multiplying the
load given with the load proportionality factor.
The retrofitted elements are modelled in three
stages, initially the uncorroded region is modelled,
followed by corroded region. In the second stage the
corroded and uncorroded regions are assembled with
tie constraint. In the third stage, the CFRP retrofit is
separately modelled as a shell element (S4R) and fixed
to the region of corrosion with a tie constraint. The
wrapping of CFRP to the corroded surface is achieved
by treating corroded surface as master and CFRP shell
surface as slave and the regions are tied together with
201
ARC - 70X5
AC - 70X5
AUC - 70X5
ARC - 75X5
AC - 75X5
AUC - 75X5
Fig. 6Modes of failure observed for ISA 70 70 5mm, 75 75 5 mm sections
tie constraint. Then after same procedure as corroded

specimen is followed to simulate the compression
behavior. Apart from numerical simulation, the IS:8002007, IS:802 and ASCE10-97 and Rankines Gordan
method were used to calculate the theoretical capacity
of uncorroded members and results were compared.
Table 3
Load bearing capacity of corroded and
uncorroded specimens
S.No
IS: 8002007
Rankiens
Method
IS;802
& ASCE
10-97
Numerical
Method
Experimental
Method
Pd (kN)
AUC - 70
165.65
169.241
160.732
168.397
172.153
AC - 70
126.142
123.270
ARC - 70
158.038
159.750
AUC - 75
170.18
172.794
162.494
186.913
187.759
AC - 75
117.709
111.839
ARC - 75
180.981
184.564
AUC 100
320.788
322.202
276.297
338.040
327.470
AC - 100
204.150
203.500
ARC 100
244.980
242.140
202


Validation of Numerical results
The numerical and experimental studies were carried out

in order to assess the strength and behavior of corroded
steel angle members. In this work, steel angle sections
were uniformly corroded and retrofitted with CFRP. In
order to study the behavior of uniform corrosion on the
angle members, six corroded members were taken, out
of which three was retrofitted with CFRP. The ultimate
strength as well as deflection for various weight loss
percentages were studied. Where corrosion was
modelled for a height of one-third from the bottom. They
were modelled using ABAQUS and the results were
validated with experiments. A comparison between the
analytical, numerical and experimental values of the
load carrying capacities of the uncorroded, corroded and
retrofitted specimens were tabulated as shown in Table
3. From the analysis, it was observed that the mode of
failure in corroded members was due to local buckling.
It was because of higher compressive stresses caused
due to the reduction in the cross sectional area of the
effected corroded region. Comparison of numerical and
experimental failure modes were observed typically
for the retrofitted, corroded and uncorroded specimens
as shown in Fig. 4. Both numerical and experimental
results match well for uncorroded, corroded, corroded
Axial load (kN)
and retrofitted studies and are shown in Fig. 5

The study has been further extended on ISA 70 70
5mm, 75 75 5mm sections. The specimen details,
thickness and mass loss observed after corrosion are
given in Table 2. The observed modes of failure were
shown in Fig. 6.
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
705 AUC
705 AC
705 ARC
755 AUC
755 ARC
1006 AUC
1006 AC
1006 ARC
2
3
4
5
Axial displacement (mm)
Acknowledgement
The authors thank the staff of the Structural Testing
Laboratory and Advanced Material Laboratory for
the co-operation and suggestions provided during
the investigations. This paper is published with the
permission of Director, CSIR-Structural Engineering
Research Centre, Chennai, India
755 AC
the retrofitted specimens with CFRP compared to the

corroded specimen. Thus external bonding of CFRP
has been clearly established as a promising alternative
strengthening technique for steel structures.
Fig. 7 Load vs Axial Displacement behavior curves
The observed modes of failure were shown in Figs.

6-7. It was observed from load vs axial displacement
graph that, as the percentage of corrosion increases, the
ultimate capacity of the members decreases.
Conclusions
This paper presents numerical studies carried out on
uncorroded, corroded, corroded and retrofitted steel
angle sections as compression members. Totally nine
compression members were considered , out of which
six were corroded to a specified level corresponding to
weight loss. The capacity of corroded members were
observed between 20% to 40% of their uncorroded
capacity. The reduction in capacity of many uncorroded
members were predicted using IS: 800-2007 and Rankine
Gordan formula, which gave a closer value compared to
the experimental and numerical results. The numerical,
analytical and experimental study confirms that there is
a drastic reduction in the load carrying capacity of the
corroded member compared to the uncorroded specimens.
From the compression test carried out on the specimens,
it was concluded that corrosion has a major impact on the
failure mode of the member. For the uncorroded members,
buckling was observed at mid height whereas in the case
of corroded members, the critical region of failure shifted
towards the location of minimum thickness region. Out
of the six corroded specimens, three was retrofitted with
CFRP and tested under compression. From the study it
was found that 15% to 35% improvement in strength of

References
1. Aparna Ben, Vikraman.R, Cinitha.A, Umesha.P.K,
Eapen Sakaria, Compressive Strength of
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Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering
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KSCE Jl. of Civ. Engg., Vol. 18, (6), 2014,
pp 17351744.
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7. IS: 802-1992 (Part1/Sec2), Use of structural steel
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8. IS: 800-2007, General construction in steel-code
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September 30, 2016)

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Journal of Structural Engineering

Vol. 43, No. 2, June - July 2016 pp. 197-205