Analysis of Temperature and Humidity Distribution and Corrosion Effect on Suspender of Arch Bridge

Abstract

With the continuous improvement of bridge span, high-strength steel wire suspenders are more and more widely used in arch bridges. Because metals are thermodynamically unstable, most metals will corrode at a different speed. Especially with the increase of bridge operation time, the suspender steel wire will be corroded under the coupling effect of external environment and internal temperature and humidity. By taking Wanganshi Fuhe Bridge as the engineering example, this study established a numerical finite element model to simulate the variation of temperature in the cross section of the suspender. Then, the distribution of humidity in the cross section in the suspender under the influence of temperature can be obtained. Finally, the corrosion rate of the suspender and the residual diameter after corrosion at different operating years were calculated. Based on the analysis results, the performance of the suspender is divided into different grades which can be used to guide the maintenance and replacement of the suspender of the arch bridge by the bridge maintenance and management department.