Influence of Corrosion on the Structural Behavior of an Ancient Iron Bridge

The paper is focused on a magnificent Italian iron bridge which has surpassed a hundred years of service and is affected by corrosion. It is well-known that corrosion as a phenomenon is the gradual destruction of materials, mainly metals, affected by a chemical or an electrochemical reaction between them and the environment in which they are present. In this study both global and local finite element (FE) models were developed to study the influence of corrosion on bridge safety, in terms of deformability, stability of the members and fatigue life. In particular the propagation of the corrosion on both hot rivets and the cross-sections is considered with different approaches. The influence of corrosion on the fatigue-life of the bridge, considering is deeply discussed.