Experimental and numerical investigations on corroded stainless-clad bimetallic steel bar with artificial damage

Abstract Artificial damage was introduced in stainless-steel cladding layer (SSCL) of stainless-clad bimetallic steel bars (SCBSBs) to simulate the initial imperfection . The corrosion performances and mechanical properties of SCBSBs were investigated experimentally. Based on the test results of corrosion performance of artificially damaged SCBSBs, corrosion mainly occurred in the damaged area. The wc developed faster than the dc, with increases in corrosion ratio. The increment in corrosion ratio led to decreases in fy, fu, eu and δ. Predictive equations were proposed to quantify influences of corrosion on fy, fu, ey, eu, eu/ey and δ . A stress-strain model was proposed to clarify mechanical properties of artificially damaged SCBSB specimens with various corrosion ratios. The comparisons among different steel bars were conducted to investigate differences in effects of corrosion on mechanical properties. Different energy indexes were calculated to quantify the ductility of artificially damaged SCBSB specimens comprehensively. The finite element analysis was carried out to investigate the effects of corrosion morphology and location on strength properties of SCBSBs. Based on numerical results, when corrosion ratio was the same, the fu and fy of corroded SCBSBs increased, with the increase in W/D. The effect of corrosion location on strength properties of corroded SCBSBs could be ignored. Contributions of this study were useful to determine resistance of structures with SCBSBs during the service life accurately.