P R E D I C T I O N O F T H E LIFE O F S T E E L S H E E T - P I L E W A L L S FOR RIVER PORTS

IL F. Pen~ov and A. L Nosov

UDC 539.4.00.18:627.33

In the construction of quay walls for river ports sheet piles of Larsen types IV and V of Bessemer rimmed steel St3 ("Bessemer St3kp") were used instead of sheet piles of steel 16KhG stlpulated by the original design. Investigations conducted by the Sclentlflc-Research Institute of Water Transport with the participation of the Novoslblrsk Branch of the State River Transport Planning Institute made it possible to, estimate the degree of corrosion of steel sheet piles and to predict their llfe on the basis of the conditions of corrosion and fatigue of the metal. During the inspection the entire 801-m-long quay wall was carefully examined and five characteristic corroded sections, each with 16 sequentially arranged sheet piles, were revealed. On these sheet piles we photographed and examined three areas of 4 dm s each, on which we counted the number of pits, determined their depth and diameter, and then calculated the overall area affected by pitting. On sections of the quay put into service at different times (1968, 1969, and 1971) twelve 200 x 160-,-, templates were cut out in the underwater and above-water zones and in the zone of variable water levels for a thorough assessment of their corrosion, microanalysls, and subsequent mechanical tests. The rear side of two deformed sheet piles in the wall and the surfaces of all templates facing the backfill were also studied. Corrosion was not found on these surfaces and the results of the investigations given below pertain to the outer surfaces of the sheet piles. It was established that after 5-year service the unprotected metal in the sheet piles was covered with a layer of corrosion products over the entire surface and by a deposit in the region of the pits. On the average 23Z of the area of the entire surface of the sheet piles was affected by pitting, though it differed considerably by zones: the ratio of the areas affected by pitting in the underwater zones, in the variable level zone, and in the above-water zone was, respectively, 2:1.5:1. Greater corrosion of the surfaces of the sheet piles that were in still water (beyond the llne of the cordon) in comparison with the surfaces located in the flow, and also on the boundaries of the painted zones and in the interlocks of the sheet piles, was clearly noted. The average area of the pits was 1-2 cm s and their depth 0.15-0.52 mm. In the majority of cases the site of the pits coincided with the emergence of large silicate inclusions onto the surface. It is known [i] that the corrosion rate is a maximum in the first years and decreases thereafter approximately three-fold and stabilizes. For the first year of service the rate of increase of the pits was 0.16 mm/yr and the average uniform corrosion, determined on the basis of the average weight loss of metal per unit area, was about four-fold less and amounted to 0 . 0 3 7 m m/yr. An analogous value of the rate of uniform corrosion (0.038 -~/yr) was obtained from the functions1 relatlon [2]:

where y is the corrosion rate; x~ and xa are the temperature and pH of the water, equal respectively to 9.31 and 7.02; xa-xy are the concentrations of C02, 0,, HCOa", (Ca+++ Mg ~+) and (C1' + S04"), equal, respectively, to 3.35, 10.68, 90.3, 15.7, and 8.9; ul-u, are coefficients equal, respectively, to 1.545516, +0.238277, + 0.012461,+0.001295, --0.000053, --0.003379, and --0.004034. The values of xx-x, were taken from the 1968, 1969, and 1971 hydraullc enTranslated from Gidrotekhnicheskoe Stroitel'stvo, No. 9, pp. 31-33, September, 1979.

894

0018-8220/79/0009-0894507.50

9 1980 Plenum P u b l i s h i n g C o r p o r a t i o n

STEEL SHEET-PILE WALLS FOR RIVER PORTS

895

MPa

10

i0~

I0 t

10 7

I0 e

IO0

...... ~

N. cycles

Fig. 1 Fig. i. Flat specimen for low-cycle fatigue tests.

Fig. 2

Fig. 2. Restricted fatigue limits in symmetric bending (I, 2) and tensioncompression (3, 4) for flat specimens (i, 3) and specimens with ribs (2, 4). glneering annuals as the arithmetic mean value during the navigation season from April through September. Knowing the corrosion rate in the first year and the character of this change with time, we can estimate the life of the sheet piles on the basis of the corrosion conditions. If we denote the allowable depth of corrosion by K, the rate of pitting in the first year by y, and the number of years of safe operation of the sheet piles by n, then g ~=e+-F from which
n~

("-I)--~

2+, a ,

(2)

3K--2y
g

(3)

The values of K can be assigned from strength conditions and the values of y can be determlned in full-scale tests or can be calculated by Eq. (1), but in both cases the value of the pitting rate, which, as already indicated, is about four-fold greater than the rate of uniform corrosion, is substituted into Eq. (3). In many cases it is of interest to solve the inverse problem, when K is determined on the basis of a given n and it can be assumed equal to the depreciable service llfe of the quay wall. With respect to the investigated quay, whose depreciable life is determined to be 50 years, K =0.16(2 + 50)/3 =2.8 am, which will weaken the cross section of the sheet piles by no more than 15Z. A thorough examination of the port's sheet-pile wall over the entire length of 801 m showed the presence of a considerable number of welded plates (as many as 2-3 on one sheet pile), openings for wastewater pipes, places of butt-welded joints, burn holes, and dents, which create considerable local stress concentration and substantially reduce the fatigue limit of the sheet piles. To estimate the degree of effect of such stress concentration, flat specimens (Fig. 1) were made from the sheet pile metal, as well as specimens with welded 6-mm-thlck longitudinal and transverse ribs. The ribs were welded to the flat specimens by one- and two-sided welds by manual electric-arc welding, semiautomatic welding in a carbon dioxide atmosphere, and underwater welding. The tests were carried out on an HUP-50 universal pulsator under mild loading conditions according to an asymmetric cycle with a positive value of the coefficient of asymmetry, equal to 0.25. The minimum stress of the cycle was 70 MPa and was taken from the conditions of stability of the specimen-pulsator system. The maximum stress of the cycle was 10-30MPa below the yield point and averaged 270MPa, which provided failure of the specimens within limits to 100,000 loadings.

896

R. F. PEN'KOV AND A. I . NOSOV

a,o
180
r

~ao

oN
g~

/#8

N:cycles Fig. 3

#. cycles Fig. 4

Fig. 3. Values of the effective stress concentration factors in the case of a different llfe for specimens with ribs (1) and flat specimens (2). Fig. 4. Life of Bessemer St3kp steel sheet piles as a function of the bending stresses caused by cyclic loads acting in them. The restricted fatigue limits obtained~as a result of the tests were recalculated for a symmetric cycle and given llfe by Eq. (4), derived from the first law of the theory of reliabillty and llfe of machines:
I

['-- Iplsec "rNc. ==

'

where [o -- iP]se c is thefatlgue limit in sy~netrlc tension--compression of the specimen simulating the sheet pile; u r , Nc, restricted fatigue limit of the specimen with a rib on a base of Nc for asymmetry coefficient r; K =5.4, a coefficient whose value is determined from the results of testing at two levels of stresses; 8, ratio of the fatigue limit in tension-compression to its ultimate strength. The fatigue limit in sy~netrlc tension--compression of "Bessemer St3kp" steel on a base of 10 T cycles is 120 MPa [3]. Investigations showed that for flat specimens whose surface roughness corresponds to R2e-R 2"~ its value decreases to 57 MPa, and in the presence of stress concentrations from welding, to 44 MPa (Fig. 2). In this case semiautomatic welding in a carbon dioxide atmosphere creates the minimum stress concentration and underwater welding the maxlmum. The maximum values of the stress concentration factors, determined from the test results, are given in Fig. 3. The minimum fatigue llfe can be estimated as the life corresponding to that value of the restricted fatigue whose numerical value is equal to the calculated strength and is determlned by the data in Fig. 4. If the bending stresses are less than 60 MPa, i.e., below the fatigue limit of Bessemer St3kp steel sheet piles, fatigue failure of the sheet piles is precluded and their life should be calculated only from corrosion conditions. In the case of large effective stresses the overall life of the sheet piles will be determined by the minimum of the two lives determined from conditions of corrosion and fatigue of the sheet piles. LITERATURE CITED I. S . I . Nalimov, "Investigations of the All-Union Sclentlflc-Research Institute of Hydraulic Engineering in the area of protecting steelwork of hydraulic structures from corrosion and fouling," Izv. VNIIG B. E. Vedeneev, Energlya, Leningrad, 100 (1972). S . M . Nalimov, M. A. Luchina, and A. S. Rats, "Prediction of the corrosion rate of ~teelwork in fresh waters," in: Trans. of the Joint Conf. on Hydr. Eng. [in Russian], Energiya, Leningrad, No. 55 (1970). M . I . Lyuboshlts and G. M. Itskovlch, Strength of Materials Handbook [in Russian], Vysshaya Shkola, Minsk (1969).

2,

3.