Remaining carrier capacity assessment of corrosion-affected bar

The construction members of electrical network infrastructures located on industrial, chemical and petrochemical platforms, in harbours, military objectives etc. are strongly influenced by climatic variability, pollution, or/and improper maintenance. The degradation of such members occurs by means of corrosion processes and functional mechanical (the weight of insulator chains, electrical cables etc.) and ambient strains (wind, hoar frost deposits, ice, wet snow), processes that influence reciprocally and permanently one another during their operational life.

To establish a correct maintenance programme and of behaviour monitoring for construction members (bars, equipment supports, towers) one should determine their technical condition and their carrier capacity after a certain operational time. The article describes the testing methodology of a carbon steel metallic bar within a mechanical testing station after 35 years in operation. Testing aims at providing information about- the effective values of unitary effort in various points of the bar by measurements with strain gauges; the deformations that occur during mechanical operational stresses simulated on the testing stand, and consequently determining the critical points of the member. Other purposes of the testing programme are as follows: determining the actual carrier capacity of construction members, determining the manner in which they yield to mechanical stresses, the performance of materials used and of the execution.