Thin-Walled Structures 44 (2006) 1019 www.elsevier.

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Effect of pitting corrosion on strength of web plates subjected to patch loading

Tatsuro Nakai *, Hisao Matsushita, Norio Yamamoto
Research Institute, Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK), 1-8-3, Ohnodai, Midori-ku, Chiba 267-0056, Japan Received 21 December 2004; received in revised form 11 August 2005; accepted 29 September 2005 Available online 10 November 2005

Abstract Pitting corrosion is typical corrosion observed on coated hold frames in way of cargo holds of bulk carriers, which exclusively carry coal and iron ore. Extensive survey on the effect of pitting corrosion on structural strength under a wide variety of loading conditions is necessary to clarify the relationship between pitting intensity and residual strength in detail. In the present study, a series of tests has been conducted on structural models which consist of web, shell and face plates to investigate the effect of pitting corrosion on strength of web plates subjected to patch loading. In these tests, articial pitting was made on the web plates and two equal concentrated loads have been applied vertically at the one third points of simply supported models. It was found that web crippling behavior is strongly affected by the pit distribution on the web plates. According to the FE-analyses following the experiment, ultimate strength of the web plates with pitting under patch loading is a little smaller than or almost the same as that of the web plates with uniform corrosion in terms of average thickness loss. q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Pitting corrosion; Local strength; Web crippling; Patch loading; Hull structural members

1. Introduction Corrosion is an unavoidable phenomenon in ships hull structures and thickness loss of the structural members due to corrosion is a great concern when the integrity of hull structures is considered. Concepts of corrosion margin and allowable corrosion level have been introduced conventionally to cope with this problem. The corrosion margin is an additional thickness at the design stage and the allowable corrosion level is used as a guide to determine when to renew worn members at the maintenance stage. Corrosion found in hull structures is generally divided into two types, that is, general corrosion and localized corrosion. Pitting corrosion dealt with in the present study is categorized as one form of localized corrosion. For example, pitting corrosion is observed on hold frames in way of cargo holds of bulk carriers carrying coal and iron ore, which have coating such as tar epoxy paints. In the case of members with pitting corrosion, which has large unevenness on the surface, the evaluation of residual strength is considered to be difcult compared to members with general
* Corresponding author. Tel.: C81 43 294 5894; fax: C81 43 294 5896. E-mail address: nakai@classnk.or.jp (T. Nakai).

corrosion (uniform corrosion). In order to determine an appropriate corrosion margin for structural designs, to determine an appropriate allowable corrosion level for maintenance and to establish the method of inspection and survey, it is necessary to evaluate the effect of pitting corrosion on strength accurately. From such a point of view, (1) actual state of pitting corrosion and (2) strength reduction of plate elements constituting hold frames due to pitting corrosion have been investigated in the previous studies [1]. As a result, interesting aspects were found as follows; (1) In either case of the three bulk carriers investigated, the shape of the corrosion pit observed on the hold frames is a circular cone and the ratio of pit diameter to its depth is in the range between 8 1 and 10 1. (2) Nominal tensile strength of pitted members decreases gradually and total elongation of pitted members decreases drastically with the increase of thickness loss due to pitting corrosion. (3) Compressive buckling strength of pitted members is smaller than or equal to that with uniform thickness loss in terms of average thickness loss. It should be noted that total elongation of pitted members is remarkably small. In other words, pitted members cannot

0263-8231/$ - see front matter q 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tws.2005.09.004

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endure large deformation. However, the effect of pitting corrosion on structural strength is not yet clear. Further, investigation is necessary to clarify how the pitting corrosion affects strength of hold frames as beams. When beam strength is considered, in general, (1) collapse strength (accompanying no buckling), (2) lateral-distortional buckling strength, (3) local buckling strength, (4) shear strength of web plates and (5) web crippling strength under concentrated loading etc. are important factors [2]. Therefore, the effect of pitting corrosion on each factor mentioned above should be investigated. So far, some series of tests have been performed on structural models whose web plates have articial pitting simulating corroded hold frames of bulk carriers to examine the effect of pitting corrosion on (1) collapse strength [3], (2) lateral-distortional buckling strength [4] and (3) local buckling strength [4]. And it has been revealed that average thickness loss could be an appropriate parameter to evaluate the ultimate strength under these loading conditions. However, it has been also pointed out that when tensile load due to bending moment acts on the face plate, cracks could possibly generate at the pit on the web plate close to the face plate. This suggests that crack generation at the pitted web plates could be an dominant factor determining the ultimate strength of hold frames of aged bulk carriers. For the purpose of investigating the effect of pitting corrosion on strength of web plates subjected to patch loading, a series of tests has been conducted on structural models which consist of web, shell and face plates in the present study. Following the experiment, a series of FE-analyses has been made to simulate the web crippling behavior observed in the experiment. Numerous studies have been made to provide better understanding of web crippling behavior under patch loading [5]. However, to the authors knowledge, no investigation has been made on the effect of corrosion, especially pitting corrosion on the ultimate strength of web plates under patch loading. 2. Test procedures 2.1. Tested structural models and testing apparatus Six structural models (series A: A4-1A4-6) made of YP32 steel plates have been prepared and tested. Thickness of the plates is 6, 10 and 19 mm. Mechanical properties of each plate are given in Table 1. As listed in Table 1, yield point ranges from 331 to 421 MPa and tensile strength is in the range between 508 and 544 MPa and total elongation from 30 to 33%. Tested structural models are monosymmetric welded I-beams which consist of shell, web and face plates whose cross-sectional conguration simulates hold frames of bulk carriers as shown in Fig. 1. Hold frames of a bulk carrier are shown schematically in Fig. 2. Cross section of the structural models corresponds to one half scale of that of one hold frame (tpZ19 mm, twZ12 mm, tfZ20 mm, dwZ450 mm, 2bfZ 200 mm, frame spaceZ940 mm, see Fig. 3) of Cape-sized bulk carriers. Thickness of the shell plate of the structural models is not reduced and the width is reduced to one fourth of the frame space of the actual hold frames so that the cross-

Table 1 Mechanical properties of tested YP32 steel t (mm) 6 10 19 Y.P.(MPa) 421 352 331 T.S.(MPa) 544 516 508 El.(%) 30 33 33

sectional area of the shell plate would correspond to one fourth of that of the actual shell plate. Length and span of the structural models are 720 and 610 mm, respectively. The structural models were set in the testing apparatus so that the shell plate would be an upper side. The universal testing machine with a capacity of 1000 kN has been used and two equal concentrated loads have been applied vertically at the one third points of the simply supported models (see Fig. 4). Vertical deection of the loading points and lateral deection of the one fourth points of the web depth at the mid-span were measured. Test set-up is presented in Fig. 5. 2.2. Articial pitting The main objective of the present experiment is to investigate the effect of pitting corrosion on web strength under patch loading. Therefore, articial pitting is made on the web plate of the tested structural models by drilling. The shape of the articial pit is a circular cone whose diameter and depth are 20 and 2.5 mm, respectively, which is determined based on the observation results of the actual pitting corrosion on hold frames of a 14-year-old bulk carrier [1]. The articial pit corresponds to the actual corrosion pit whose diameter and depth are 40 and 5.0 mm, respectively, since the crosssectional conguration of the structural models are approximately one half scale of actual hold frames. Pitted area of each tested structural model is blackened area shown in Fig. 6. No pitting was made on A4-1. The whole area of the web plate between the loading point and the supporting point is pitted area in A4-2. The whole area of the web plate between the two loading points is pitted area in A-3. The pitted area in A4-4, A4-5 and A4-6 is upper, middle and lower portion, respectively, of the web plate between the two supporting points. Articial pitting is made at the same points on both sides of the web plate. Number of pits, area ratio of pitting (pitting intensity) and local average thickness loss in the pitted area are tabulated in Table 2. Therefore, the thickness

Fig. 1. Tested structural model.

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T. Nakai et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 44 (2006) 1019

reached, load suddenly dropped in all the testing conditions. Ultimate load obtained in the experiment is listed in Table 3. Ultimate load of the pitted models is smaller than that of the model with no pitting. Ultimate load of A4-3 where pitting concentrated at the center of the web is approximately 24% smaller than that of A4-1 (no pitting), while ultimate load of A4-2 where pitting concentrated between the loading point and the supporting point is approximately 8%. And ultimate strength reduction of A4-4 and A4-5 where pitting concentrated at the upper part and at the middle part, respectively is 25%, which is remarkably large compared with that of A4-6 (approximately 6%) where pitting concentrated at the lower part. 3.2. Load-lateral deection behavior Load-lateral deection curves for A4-1 and A4-6 are shown Fig. 10(a) and (b), respectively. Results of FE-analyses shown later are also plotted in this gure. It can be seen in this gure that after ultimate load was reached, lateral deection developed progressively accompanied by load reduction. The structural models after the test are shown in Fig. 11. As can be seen in this gure, web local buckling occurred and maximum deection was observed at the upper part of the web plates. The position where maximum lateral deection occurs is affected by the position of pits. For example, in the case of A4-4 where the articial pitting concentrates on the web plate near the shell plate, maximum lateral deection occurs at the position closer to the shell plate compared with A4-1 where there is no pitting. 4. Welding residual stress 4.1. Measurement method In order to investigate the effect of welding residual stress on the web crippling behavior by the FE-analysis shown later, welding residual stress of a structural model whose crosssectional conguration is the same as those used in the above

Fig. 2. Schematic view of position of hold frames of bulk carrier.

Fig. 3. Cross-sectional view of hold frames.

at the bottom of the articial pits is very small, approximately 1 mm, as shown in Fig. 7. Number of pits in each tested model is the same as shown in Table 2. Articial pits in each tested model are distributed uniformly as illustrated in Fig. 8.

3. Test results 3.1. Load-deection behavior Load-vertical deection curves for A4-1A4-3 and those for A4-1, A4-4A4-6 are given in Fig. 9(a) and (b), respectively. Vertical deection at the loading points were measured at four points on the shell plate and the average value is plotted. Results of FE-analyses shown later are also included in these gures. As shown in these gures, after ultimate load was

Fig. 4. Four-point bend test.

Fig. 5. Test set-up.

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Fig. 6. Pitted area in each structural model.

experiment have been prepared for measurement of welding residual stress. Longitudinal residual stress at the mid-span at 13 points on the face plate, at 14 points on the web plate and at 13 points on the shell plate shown in Fig. 12 were measured by the sectioning method. 4.2. Distribution of welding residual stress Distribution of welding residual stress measured by the above-mentioned method is shown in Fig. 13, where sr and sy are welding residual stress and yield stress, respectively. Measured values on both sides of the members and the average values are plotted in this gure. As can be seen in this gure, large tensile residual stress exists near the llet welded joints which is in a equilibrium state with compressive residual stress existing away from the llet welded joints. The absolute value of compressive residual stress existing on the web plate is getting larger as the position is getting closer to the face plate.

5. FE-analysis 5.1. Modeling A series of non-linear FE-analyses have been carried out. FE-code MSC.Marc has been employed in the present analysis. MSC.Marc contains an extensive element library [6]. From the element library, a four-node, thick-shell element (Element Type 75) has been chosen. Material constants used in the analysis are Youngs Modulus EZ205.8 GPa and yield stress sy shown in Table 1 and work hardening is taken into consideration. An example of stress-strain relationship used in the analyses is shown in Fig. 14. The pitted web plate is modeled with shell elements whose mesh size is approximately the original thickness of the web plate. The geometrical model used in the FE-analysis is described in Fig. 15. Positions, shapes, diameter and depth of articial pits are known and thickness at each node is calculated and averaged value of the thickness at four nodes, which form each element is adopted as thickness of each element. For example, the pitted area in A4-3 modeled by the above-mentioned method is shown in Fig. 16. It has been revealed in the previous studies [1] that compressive buckling behavior of pitted members could be well simulated using such very ne mesh.

Table 2 Articial pitting in each structural model T.P. no. Pit diameter (mm) No pit 20 20 20 20 20 Number of pits A 0 77 77 77 77 77 B 0 77 77 77 77 77 Area ratio of pit 0.0 0.54 0.54 0.54 0.54 0.54 Local average thickness loss (mm) 0.0 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 (%) 15.5 15.5 15.5 15.5 15.5 15.5

A4-1 A4-2 A4-3 A4-4 A4-5 A4-6

Fig. 7. Cross-sectional view of articial pits.

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T. Nakai et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 44 (2006) 1019 Table 3 Results of test and FE-analysis T.P. no. A4-1c A4-2 A4-3 A4-4 A4-5 A4-6 Pu (kN) Exp. 778 716 594 577 581 728 FEMa 737 668 655 596 648 718 FEMb 737 693 668 635 675 720

Note: Pu: ultimate load. a No pit. b Pit distribution is taken into consideration. c General corrosion is assumed. Fig. 8. Pit distribution in each structural model.

5.2. Initial imperfections It is generally said that distribution of initial imperfections is quite complicated. Measurement of initial imperfections of the structural models used in the present experiment has not been done. Initial imperfection w shown by Eqs. (1) and (2) are given to the geometrical model. w Z w0 sin px py sin a b (1)

where tw is original thickness of the web plate and a, b, x and y are shown in Fig. 15. 5.3. Preliminary analysis In the preliminary analysis, the effect of welding residual stress on the deformation behavior of the web plate with no pitting (A4-1) has been investigated. Welding residual stress was induced by giving temperature distribution so that thermal stress distribution would be closer to the distribution of welding residual stress obtained in the abovementioned measurement. Distribution of induced thermal stress at the mid-span is shown in Fig. 17. Measurement
(a) 1000 Experiment FE-Analysis

w0 Z

1 t 10 w

(2)

(a) 1000 A4-1(No Pit) A4-2 Load (kN) w0 = t w /10

A4-1 800 Load (kN) 600 400 L 200 0 5

500

measuring point

A4-3

Exp. FEM 15 20 25

U M L 0 5 10 15 20

10

Vertical Deflection (mm) (b) 1000 A4-1(No Pit) A4-6 Load (kN) Load (kN) w0 = t w /10 800 600 400 200 0 5 (b) 1000 A4-6

Lateral Deflection (mm)

Experiment FE-Analysis U

500

measuring point

A4-5 A4-4 0 5 10 15

Exp. FEM 20 25

U M L 0 5 10 15 20

Vertical Deflection (mm)

Fig. 9. Load-vertical deection curves: (a) A4-1A4-3; (b) A4-1, A4-4A4-6.

Lateral Deflection (mm)

Fig. 10. Load-lateral deection curves: (a) A4-1; (b) A4-6.

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Fig. 11. Structural models after test: (a) A4-1; (b)A4-2; (c)A4-3; (d)A4-4; (e)A4-5; (f)A4-6; (left: general view, right: cross-sectional view at mid-span).

results of welding residual stress are also shown in this gure. It can be seen that the distribution of welding residual stress is well reproduced in the analysis. A predicted load-vertical deection curve for A4-1 with residual stress and that with no residual stress are shown in Fig. 18. As shown in this gure, there is little effect of welding residual stress on the deformation behavior. Therefore, welding residual stress is neglected in the analyses hereafter.

5.4. Analysis results 5.4.1. Prediction of load-deection behavior Predicted load-deection curves for A4-1A4-3 and those for A4-1, A4-4A4-6 are given in Fig. 9(a) and (b), respectively and the relationship between estimated and experimental ultimate load is shown in Fig. 19. As shown in these gures, there is a trend that predicted deection at the ultimate load is a little smaller than the experimental one,

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however, ultimate load itself can be well predicted. Absolute values of the deference between estimated and experimental ultimate load are in the range between 1 and 11%. Ultimate load obtained in the analysis is tabulated in Table 3. 5.4.2. Prediction of load-lateral deection behavior Predicted lateral deection for D4-1 and D4-6 are shown in Fig. 10(a) and (b), respectively. A good agreement between the predicted lateral deection with the experimental one can be seen in these gures. 5.4.3. Effect of pitting on ultimate strength and deformation behavior Distribution of equivalent stress seq, normal stress sx, sy and shear stress txy for A4-1(no pitting) obtained in the analyses is shown in Fig. 20(a)(d), respectively. Compressive stress due to patch loading is large in region A in Fig. 20(c) where large lateral-deection occurs and shear stress txy is remarkably large in region B in Fig. 20(d). And when pitting concentrates in the region (region B in Fig. 20(d)) where shear stress is high (e.g. A4-2), the load-vertical deection relation slips off the linear relation at earlier stage of deformation compared with A4-1(no pitting). And when pitting concentrates in the region (region A in Fig. 20(c)) where large lateraldeection occurs (e.g. A4-3), the vertical deection at the ultimate load becomes smaller. It is, therefore, clear that ultimate load and deformation behavior are strongly affected by pit distribution. 6. Effect of pitting corrosion and general corrosion As mentioned earlier, in the case of members with pitting corrosion, which has large unevenness on the surface, the evaluation of residual strength is considered to be difcult. In the above-mentioned analyses, rather a complicated method of modeling pitted members is employed. For a practical purpose, a simpler method is desired. In this section, pitted area for each structural model is modeled using shell elements with the same thickness corresponding to the average thickness in the area, that is, general corrosion (uniform corrosion) is assumed and predictability of deformation behavior is examined. Loadvertical deection curves obtained in the FE-analyses for the structural models with pitting corrosion and those for the structural models with general corrosion are depicted in Fig. 21. It can be seen in these gures that ultimate load for the structural models with general corrosion is almost the same as or a little larger than that for the structural models with pitting corrosion. Ultimate load obtained in the analysis is listed in Table 3. The difference between them is in the range between 0.0 to 6.5% and is the largest in the case of A4-4 where pitting concentrates near the shell plate. Fig. 22 compares ultimate load of A4-4 with pitting and that of structural models with general corrosion in the pitted area of A4-4, which is obtained by the FE-analyses. It can be seen in this gure that an additional average thickness of 0.3 mm, which is 5% of the original thickness of the web plate, is necessary to estimate the ultimate strength of A4-4 accurately when general corrosion is

Fig. 12. Measuring point of welding residual stress.

1 0.5 0

face

web 0.5 r / y 1 outside inside average 1 0.5 0 0.5 shell 1

Fig. 13. Distribution of welding residual stress.

r / y 1 0.5 0 0.5 1

r / y

600 True Stress (MPa) 500 400 300 200 100

strain hardening (used in FE-analysis)

t=19mm 0 0.05

Experiment 0.1

Plastic Strain
Fig. 14. Example of stress-strain relationship used in analysis (tZ19 mm).

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Fig. 15. Geometrical model.

Fig. 16. Example of modeling pit using shell element (thickness distribution in pitted area of A4-3).

1 0.5 0 0.5 r / y 1

face

assumed. However, it can be said that, as a whole, ultimate load of the web plate with pitting under patch loading is well estimated even when general corrosion is assumed without taking into account such an additional thickness loss. Therefore, average thickness loss can be an appropriate parameter for the evaluation of the web crippling behavior of pitted members
web 1000 no residual stress r / y 1 0.5 0 0.5 1 Load (kN) 500 A4-1(No Pit)

Expreriment outside inside average 1 0.5 0 0.5 shell 1 r / y

residual stress

w0 = tw/10 0 FE-Analysis 5 Vertical Deflection (mm)

Exp. FEM 10

Fig. 17. Welding residual stress induced in analysis.

Fig. 18. Effect of welding residual stress on load-vertical deection curve (A4-1: no pitting).

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T. Nakai et al. / Thin-Walled Structures 44 (2006) 1019

800 Estimated Ultimate Load (kN)

600

400

for a practical purpose. It is reported in Ref. [7] that the ultimate strength of a steel plate with pitting corrosion under axial compression is governed by the smallest cross-sectional area where the shape of the pits is a cylinder. On the other hand in the present study, the average thickness loss is the dominant factor when the shape of the articial pits is a circular cone. It is considered that the dominant factor, which determines the ultimate strength depends on the shape of the pits and so on. Further investigation is necessary to clarify this point. 7. Concluding remarks
w0 = tw / 10 0 200 400 600 800

200

Experimental Ultimate Load (kN)

Fig. 19. Prediction of ultimate load.

In the present study, for the purpose of investigating the effect of pitting corrosion on strength of web plates subjected to patch loading, a series of four-point bend tests with structural models which consist of shell, web and face plates has been performed. It has been revealed that the web crippling behavior is strongly affected by the pit distribution. Following the experiment, a series of non-linear FE-analyses have been also carried out to simulate the web crippling behavior observed in

Fig. 20. Stress distribution in web plate (A4-1: no pitting): (a) equivalent stress seq; (b) normal stress sx; (c) normal stress sy; (d) shear stress txy.

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(a) 1000 general corrosion Load (kN) A4-2 general corrosion Load (kN) (b) 1000 A4-3

19

500 pitting corrosion Exp. FEM 10 15 20

500 pitting corrosion

w0 = tw / 10 0 5

w0 = tw / 10 0 5 10 15

Exp. FEM 20

Vertical Deflection (mm) (c) 1000 A4-4 general corrosion Load (kN) Load (kN) (d) 1000

Vertical Deflection (mm)

A4-5 general corrosion

500

500 pitting corrosion

pitting corrosion w0 = tw / 10 0 5 10 15

Exp. FEM 20 0

w0 = tw / 10 5 10 15

Exp. FEM 20

Vertical Deflection (mm) (e) 1000 general corrosion A4-6

Vertical Deflection (mm)

Load (kN)

500 pitting corrosion Exp. FEM 10 15 20

w0 = tw / 10 0 5

Vertical Deflection (mm)

Fig. 21. Load-vertical deection curves (pitting corrosion and general corrosion): (a) A4-2; (b) A4-3; (c) A4-4; (d) A4-5; (e) A4-6.

the experiment. It has been found that ultimate load for the structural models with pitting corrosion is almost the same as or a little smaller than that for the structural models with general corrosion in terms of average thickness loss. This fact

suggests that, for a practical purpose, average thickness can be an appropriate parameter for the evaluation of the web crippling behavior of pitted members.

References
FE-Analysis Ultimate Load (kN) w0 = tw / 10
[1] Nakai T, Matsushita H, Yamamoto N, Arai, H. Effect of pitting corrosion on local strength of hold frames of bulk carriers (1st report), Mar Struc 2004;17:40332. [2] Nethercot DA. p. 71 Limit states design of structural steelwork. 3rd ed. London, UK: Spon Press; 2001. [3] Nakai T, Matsushita H, Yamamoto N. Effect of corrosion on static strength of hull structural members (3rd report). J Soc Nav Arch Jpn 2004;195: 23342 [in Japanese]. [4] Nakai T, Matsushita H, Yamamoto N, Arai, H. Effect of pitting corrosion on local strength of hold frames of bulk carriers (2nd report) -lateraldistortional buckling and local face buckling-, Mar Struct 2004;17:61241. [5] Roberts TM, Newark ACB. Strength of webs subjected to compressive edge loading. ASCE J Struct Eng 1997;123(2):17683. [6] MSC Software, MSC.MARC volume B element library version2003; 2003. [7] Paik JK, Lee JM, Ko MJ. Ultimate compressive strength of plate elements with pit corrosion wastage. J Eng Mar Env 2003;217(M4):185200.

500

0.3 mm General corrosion is assumed in the pitted area of A4-4. Pitting Corrosion (A4-4) General Corrosion 0 0.5 1 1.5 2

Average Thickness Loss (mm)

Fig. 22. Relationship between ultimate load and average thickness loss (FEanalysis).