Ultimate strength assessment of steel stiffened plate structures with grooving corrosion damage

• New approach to numerically simulate grooving corrosion on stiffened steel plates.
• Weld connections, weld-induced residual stresses and initial deflections considered.
• Insights on the corrosion effect of load shortening curves and ultimate strength.
• Assessment of the generality of empirical formulas.

An approach to simulate the behaviour of steel stiffened plates subjected to weld-induced grooving corrosion using nonlinear finite element modelling is proposed. The model includes the effects of different initial geometric imperfections and weld-induced residual stresses. The influence of corrosion damage on the load shortening curves and ultimate strength is investigated. It is shown that grooving corrosion depth has a greater influence on structural performance as compared with corrosion width for the same volume loss. Such corrosion damage could cause a significant reduction in the ultimate strength of a plate panel. Considerations of weld-induced deflection and residual stresses further enhance the corrosion influence on the strength capacity.