Numerical Simulation of Material Strength Deterioration due to Pitting Corrosion

Pitting corrosion is an insidious form of localized corrosion affecting characteristics of various engineering metallic alloys. Currently very limited literature exists with regard to systematic characterization of pitted surfaces or the efficient use of numerical methods to assess its effect, i.e. fatigue life reduction caused by the state of a corroded specimen and particularly through the study of stress concentrations considering the geometrical anomalies introduced to a surface. Much of the predictive analysis for corrosion is in fact derived from empirical means. This papers aims at exploring the use of numerical simulation to assess stress concentrating effects of pitting corrosion. Relevant parameters for characterization of pitting corrosion and its intensity are identified through literature review and preliminary simulations. 2-D and 3-D parametric models are subsequently created using stochastic parametric Finite Element Analysis, studying the effect of various randomized characteristics of pitting on the stress concentration factor.