Abstract
Toe-deck (TD) fatigue due to wheel induced distortion of orthotropic steel decks (OSDs) was reported by laboratory tests. The existing OSDs could probably suffer the TD fatigue and is evaluated using the hot spot stress (HSS) method. The wheel induced stresses of the trough-deck welded joint are analyzed using the shell model. The influences of HSS with mesh size, stress extrapolation, element shape function and the hot spot location variation are checked. TD fatigue durability using the monitored traffic data and the design specifications are discussed. Results demonstrate that the weld toe of the joint suffers wheel induced stress concentration and frequent stress cycles. The refined shell model using the 4-node-shell elements results in nearly constant HSS. TD fatigue durability of the 12mm deck with 50mm asphalt pavement falls below the designed service life that might explain the observed fatigue cracks in the vicinity of the deck toe by laboratory tests and the in-site observation. The TD fatigue evaluation using the HSS method may be utilized to get a conservative OSD design.
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