Impact of environmental actions on steel structures

Abstract

The durability of steel constructions is strongly influenced by damage due to environmental actions, which need to be consider in design and maintenance of new and also existing structures. Corrosion aggressiveness of the atmospheric environment is classified by the corrosion rate, what it represents thickness losses of structural steel. That leads to a smaller resistant area, producing a decrease in the structural performance in terms of resistance, stiffness and ductility. The object of this contribution is to present a partial report of experimental research of corrosion processes influence on steel bridges in Slovakia and Poland.