Most of existing North American bridge infrastructure is reported to be deficient. Present infrastructure management mainly relies on qualitative evaluation, where bridge safety and serviceability are judged through routine visual inspection. With the successive increase in the number of severely deficient bridges and the limited available resources, it is crucial to develop a performance-based quantitative assessment evaluation approach that enables an accurate estimation of aging bridges ultimate and seismic capacities and ensures their serviceability. Reinforcement corrosion is the main cause of most of North American concrete infrastructure deterioration. Experimental investigations prove that reinforcement corrosion results in reduction of the steel reinforcement cross sectional area, localized (or global in very extreme cases) loss of bond action, concrete spalling, loss of core concrete confinement, and structural collapse. Field observations show that damage due to reinforcement corrosion in reinforced concrete (RC) bridge columns is localized in highly affected zones by splash of deicing water. In this thesis, an innovative performance-based semi-quantitative assessment framework is developed using newly developed simplified nonlinear static and dynamic finite element analysis approaches. The framework integrates the bridge’s available design and after-construction information with enhanced inspection and additional material testing as sources for accurate input data. In order to evaluate the structural performance and the capacity of the corrosion-damaged bridge columns, four nonlinear static and dynamic analysis approaches have been developed: (i) simplified nonlinear sectional analysis (NLSA) approach that presents the basis of the analysis approaches to estimate the ultimate and seismic capacities, and serviceability of bridge columns; (ii) simplified nonlinear finite element analysis (NLFEA) approach, which enables estimating the ultimate structural capacity of corrosion-damaged RC columns; (iii) simplified hybrid linear/nonlinear dynamic finite element analysis (SHDFEA) approach to evaluate the serviceability of the bridge; and, (iv) simplified non-linear seismic analysis (SNLSA) approach to evaluate the seismic capacity of the bridge columns. The four analysis approaches are verified by comprehensive comparisons with available test experimental and analytical results. The proposed semi-quantitative assessment framework suggests three thresholds for each performance measure of the evaluation limit states to be decided by the bridge management system team. Case studies are presented to show the integrity and the consistency of using the proposed assessment framework. The proposed assessment framework together with the analysis approaches provide bridge owners, practicing engineers, and management teams with simplified and accurate evaluation tools, which lead to reduce the maintenance/rehabilitation cost and provide better safety, and reduce the variation in the data collected using only traditional inspection methods.

Most of existing North American bridge infrastructure is reported to be deficient. Present infrastructure management mainly relies on qualitative evaluation, where bridge safety and serviceability are judged through routine visual inspection. With the successive increase in the number of severely deficient bridges and the limited available resources, it is crucial to develop a performance-based quantitative assessment evaluation approach that enables an accurate estimation of aging bridges ultimate and seismic capacities and ensures their serviceability. Reinforcement corrosion is the main cause of most of North American concrete infrastructure deterioration. Experimental investigations prove that reinforcement corrosion results in reduction of the steel reinforcement cross sectional area, localized (or global in very extreme cases) loss of bond action, concrete spalling, loss of core concrete confinement, and structural collapse. Field observations show that damage due to reinforcement corrosion in reinforced concrete (RC) bridge columns is localized in highly affected zones by splash of deicing water. In this thesis, an innovative performance-based semi-quantitative assessment framework is developed using newly developed simplified nonlinear static and dynamic finite element analysis approaches. The framework integrates the bridge’s available design and after-construction information with enhanced inspection and additional material testing as sources for accurate input data. In order to evaluate the structural performance and the capacity of the corrosion-damaged bridge columns, four nonlinear static and dynamic analysis approaches have been developed: (i) simplified nonlinear sectional analysis (NLSA) approach that presents the basis of the analysis approaches to estimate the ultimate and seismic capacities, and serviceability of bridge columns; (ii) simplified nonlinear finite element analysis (NLFEA) approach, which enables estimating the ultimate structural capacity of corrosion-damaged RC columns; (iii) simplified hybrid linear/nonlinear dynamic finite element analysis (SHDFEA) approach to evaluate the serviceability of the bridge; and, (iv) simplified non-linear seismic analysis (SNLSA) approach to evaluate the seismic capacity of the bridge columns. The four analysis approaches are verified by comprehensive comparisons with available test experimental and analytical results. The proposed semi-quantitative assessment framework suggests three thresholds for each performance measure of the evaluation limit states to be decided by the bridge management system team. Case studies are presented to show the integrity and the consistency of using the proposed assessment framework. The proposed assessment framework together with the analysis approaches provide bridge owners, practicing engineers, and management teams with simplified and accurate evaluation tools, which lead to reduce the maintenance/rehabilitation cost and provide better safety, and reduce the variation in the data collected using only traditional inspection methods.

Les revêtements de couches minces soumis à de fortes contraintes de compression peuvent subir un phénomène de flambage et de délaminage simultané appelé « cloquage ». Le mécanisme de formation et de propagation des cloques en forme de rides droites et des cloques circulaires a largement été étudié dans la littérature en considérant un comportement élastique linéaire pour le film. Cependant, l’effet de la plasticité sur la propagation et l’équilibre de telles cloques, bien que constaté expérimentalement, n’avait pas encore été vraiment étudié à ce jour.Dans ce travail nous nous intéressons tout d’abord à l’observation et à la caractérisation des structures de flambement observées sur des film d’or déposés sur des substrats en silicium. Des effets de la plasticité sur la morphologie ou la charge critique de flambage des structures cloquées sont mis en évidence de manière quantitative grâce à des techniques d'observation morphologique comme l'AFM, ainsi que des tests mécaniques par nano-indentation et des mesures de contrainte.Un modèle mécanique est développé, permettant de modéliser le film comme une plaque non-linéaire géométrique au comportement élasto-plastique en contact unilatéral sur un support rigide représentant le substrat. De plus, un modèle de zone cohésive est introduit entre la plaque et le support de manière à prendre en compte le délaminage du film, avec un travail de séparation dépendant de la mixité modale du chargement.Ce modèle nous a permis de mettre en évidence l’effet de la plasticité sur les profils d’équilibres résultant du cloquage élasto-plastique, pour des morphologies de cloques en ride droite et de cloque circulaire. L'effet sur le décalage de la charge critique de flambage a également été étudié. Enfin, l'influence de la déformation plastique sur le mécanisme de propagation de la rupture interfacial lui même a été étudiée. En particulier, un effet de stabilisation de la forme de cloque circulaire, qui avait été observé expérimentalement dans diverses études, a pu être démontré par le calcul. / Thin film coatings submitted to high compressive stresses may experience a simultaneous buckling and delamination phenomenon called "blistering". The mechanism of formation and propagation of blisters in the form of straight wrinkles and circular blisters has been extensively studied in the literature considering a linear elastic behavior for the film. However, the effect of plasticity on the propagation and mechanical equilibrium of such blisters, although experimentally observed, had not been systematically studied to date.In this work, we are interested in the observation and characterization of buckling structures observed on gold films deposited on silicon substrates. The effects of plasticity on the morphology or critical buckling load of buckled structures are quantitatively demonstrated using small scale surface observation techniques such as AFM, as well as mechanical testing by nanoindentation tests and stress measurement methods.A mechanical model is developed in order to model the film as a geometric nonlinear plate with elastic-plastic behavior in unilateral contact with a rigid support representing the substrate. In addition, a cohesive zone model is introduced between the plate and the support in order to take into account the delamination of the film, with a separation work depending on the mode mix of the interface loading.This model allowed us to highlight the effect of plasticity on the equilibrium profiles resulting from elastic-plastic blistering, for both straight and circular blisters morphologies. The effect on the offset of the critical buckling load has also been studied. Finally, the influence of plastic deformation on the propagation mechanism of the interfacial fracture itself has been studied. In particular, a stabilizing effect of the circular blister form, which has been observed experimentally in various studies, has been demonstrated through calculation.