Structural reliability estimation for steel structures affected by pitting corrosion

Corrosion and pitting of structural steels used in marine pipelines and for off-shore mooring chain are important factors in continued integrity and service performance and are best considered in a reliability framework. Earlier studies have shown that corrosion and pitting are not linear functions of exposure period. This implies that for maximum pit depth the Frechet distribution rather then the usual Gumbel distribution is more appropriate for reliability analysis. The reasons for and the implications of this are discussed.