Influence of corrosion pit geometry on stress distribution within a single artificial pit

ABSTRACT A lower pitting severity produces a shallower corrosion pit shape on a corroded ballast tank. Pit distributions of corroded specimens have a probability model for the non-Gaussian surface. Therefore, the present work focuses on the numerical study of stress distribution within the corrosion pit area, while considering different corrosion pit geometries. Accordingly, 45 dog bone-shaped finite element models with a single corrosion pit are investigated. The geometrical parameters of the corrosion pit are analyzed with quantitative correlations at different sizes, shapes, and different levels of enlargement. Additionally, a corrosion pit alteration scenario is proposed, with a narrow deep, hemispherical, and final shallow wide form. Results show that the stress concentration factor remains relatively constant at the pit edge and increases toward the pit bottom. Furthermore, stress declines on the pit bottom and shallower corrosion pit form, which conforms to the polynomial trendline.