It's known that the degradation, which occurs in steel bridge structures, is a worldwide problem. This happens for several reasons such as the bridge's advanced age, the increase of the traffic weight, environmental attacks and, sometimes, because of designs, inadequate detailment and construction of structures. In order to solve these problems, different procedures in inspection of bridges have been used in different countries. In Brazil, however, it seems there is not any concern about keeping the integrity of the structures, not being commonly used proper procedures such as inspections and maintenance of the structures that can affect its safety, causing the need of more severe and expensive repairs. This research intends to make a diagnosis and propose solutions, which aim for the least occurrence of the corrosion developed by Marechal Hermes Bridge (São Francisco River). Therefore visits were made in locus, in which visual inspection, screen and photo registers, the information necessary for the analysis, were collected. Some samples were also collected and than, chemical, mechanical and metalographic characterizations were made on the steel used on the bridge, besides the analysis of the corrosion. The numerical modeling was made by using the finite element method, which aimed to analyze the structural behavior of the bridge with or without damages made by corrosion in these areas. There were made tests with salt spray in different systems of painting which aims to identify the best procedure of covering in order to protect the bridge. It was verified that the use of etil silicate of zinc, with primer epoxy-amide, rich in zinc and aliphatic varnish polyurethane was the one which presented the best performance.
steel bridges; corrosion; paint
