Abstract
This research is aim at investigating Climate Change effects on buckling strength of steel plate elements. Climate change is the consequence of global warming as a result of the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to both natural and anthropogenic reasons. This can lead to changes in environmental and atmospheric pollution parameters which may affect the deterioration rate of engineering materials and infrastructural systems. A review of the state-of-the art dose-response function, which are capable of linking atmospheric pollutants concentrations and environmental variables with long-term deterioration, was carried out to quantify the potential impact of climate change on material corrosion loss of carbon steel. The corrosion loss was then linked with the long-term buckling strength of steel plate elements to produce long-term performance models. A full mapping of corrosion loss from 0%-90% section thickness loss under compressive and shear loads was undertaken using both linear and non-linear buckling finite element analyses through ABAQUS in order to find out the impact of the effect of section thickness loss on the buckling strength of steel plate elements used in plate girder bridges. A total of 522 three-dimensional finite elements models of realistic plate elements were analysed under different corrosion intensities and patterns, the latter including uniform and non-uniform corrosion as well as pitting corrosion. The dose-response functions were then utilised to predict long-term corrosion under different climate scenarios. The damage assessment by the well-known ISO model was compared to that of two other models, Klinesmith et al. (2007) and Kallias et al. (2016). From the damage assessment using the dose-response functions it was discovered that the ISO model tends to underestimate the corrosion loss while the Klinesmith and Kallias models were found to result in comparable predictions for corrosion loss over time. The buckling FE results were normalised and plotted in terms of reduction factor curves which can offer a quick way for estimating the buckling strength loss over time, for different corrosion scenarios. These curves can offer useful support to infrastructure owners and managers to assess the implications of corrosion on plate elements and plan effective maintenance strategies throughout the life cycle of assets in the face of challenging climate change uncertainties and financial constraints.