An approach for evaluating tensile strength of painted steel plates from the surface rusting grade

Abstract

The level of anticorrosive performance is easy to determine from visual inspections of painted steel structures, but the structural performance level is difficult to evaluate. In this study, a tensile test was carried out on structural steel plates with pitting corrosion. Artificial defects were made with percentages of rusted surface area of 0, 3, 10, 16, 33 and 50% and depth-to-radius aspect ratios of 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0. From the test results, the relationship among the percentage of rusted surface area, the aspect ratio and tensile strength was defined. Accordingly, a simple approach is proposed for evaluating the tensile structural performance level from the visual inspection of painted steel structures.