A Probabilistic Physics of Failure Approach for Structure Corrosion Reliability Analysis

Abstract

Corrosion is recognized as one of the most important degradation mechanisms that affect the long-term reliability and integrity of metallic structures. Studying the structural reliability with pitting corrosion damage is useful for risk control and safety operation for the corroded structure. This paper proposed a structure corrosion reliability analysis approach based on the physics-based failure model of pitting corrosion, where the states of pitting growth, pit-to-crack, and cracking propagation are included in failure model. Then different probabilistic analysis methods such as Monte-Carlo Simulation (MCS), First-Order Reliability Method (FORM), Second-Order Reliability Method (SORM), and response surface method are employed to calculate the reliability. At last, an example is presented to demonstrate the capability of the proposed structural reliability model and calculating methods for structural corrosion failure analysis.