Custom-Engineered and Additively Manufactured Components for Strengthening Steel Bridges

Corrosion-induced section loss remains a primary deterioration mechanism in aging steel bridge infrastructure, reducing stifness and load-carrying capacity. Current inspection practices are largely qualitative, and conventional repair methods often restore nominal area without fully addressing irregular corrosion geometry. This dissertation develops a quantitative and integrated framework that connects corrosion assessment directly to structural restoration. The frst contribution is the characterization of service-induced degradation in naturally aged bridge steel, linking changes in mechanical properties to acoustic emission (AE) response and damage behavior. The second contribution is the development of a smartphone-assisted photogrammetry framework for quantifying corrosion-induced section loss, enabling millimeter-scale three-dimensional reconstruction using accessible, feld-deployable tools. The third contribution is the integration of reconstructed corrosion geometries with metal additive manufacturing to produce custom-engineered repair components that match the exact loss profle, providing a targeted alternative to conventional plate repairs. The fnal contribution is the numerical and experimental validation of the proposed repair strategy, demonstrating restoration of fexural stifness and improved strain distribution in damaged members. Overall, this research establishes a scalable, data-driven methodology that integrates material characterization, digital reconstruction, additive manufacturing, and structural validation to advance performance-based repair of aging steel bridge infrastructure.

Author dc:creator

• Raguez Taha (24399518)

• Engineering, Civil
• Engineering, Materials Science

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.25417/uic.32993960.v1

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:figshare.com:article/32993960