Abstract:
High-strength steel wires used in bridges are susceptible to corrosion-fatigue coupling during service. Traditional continuum mechanics faces challenges in accurately modeling discontinuities such as cracks and in capturing multi-field coupling effects. This study develops a peridynamics-based numerical model for the corrosion-fatigue analysis of steel wires, investigating the effects of constant potential, of stress amplitude and, of loading frequency on corrosion-fatigue behavior and fracture morphology. The results demonstrate that the model proposed effectively simulates the entire corrosion-fatigue failure process of steel wires. The predicted crack propagation patterns and fracture morphologies closely align with experimental observations. The corrosion-fatigue life and fracture morphology vary with constant potential, with a critical potential threshold −550 mV
SCE significantly reducing service life. Even at low stress amplitudes, rapid failure can occur due to the corrosion-fatigue interaction. The
S-
N curves under different constant potentials conform to the Basquin formula, and constant potentials significantly influence both the slope and intercept in logarithmic coordinates. The loading frequency significantly affects the corrosion fatigue life of steel wires. When the loading frequency and stress amplitude are low, the impact of corrosion is more pronounced. For accurate life assessment, the combined effects of corrosion and fatigue must be considered, as these three factors collectively determine the coupling effect.