A Study on the Performance Evaluation of the Corroded Steel Cable by Safety Factor Based on the Strength Condition

A method to evaluate the mechanical performance of the corroded steel cable based on the strength condition is proposed. The corrosion safety factor (n_α) was introduced, and the evaluation model was established. The eccentric effect as a result of the local corrosion was also considered. Then, the axial tensile experiment on steel-strand specimens was carried out. Furthermore, the mechanical properties, including the ultimate bearing capacity and limited strain, were analyzed. The results show that the properties of locally corroded specimens deteriorate more than uniformly corroded specimens. It is verified that the experimental data are in good agreement with the proposed theoretical model when the corrosion degree α is less than 0.35. Based on the experimental data and the related specification of the stayed cable, the relationship between n_α and α was precisely determined. Besides, the level of n_α or the safety redundancy can be characterized by the evaluation score δ. The lower the score δ, the less safe is the cable structure. This method also provides significant application prospects for safety evaluation research in civil engineering.