Abstract
There are still a lot of riveted steel railway bridges built in the first half of 20th century in service, and so it is important to pay attention to their evaluation. Their fatigue resistance represents one of the most determining factors on decision making process oriented to possibility of their further exploitation after finishing their planned service life. The standard method of fatigue assessment according to Eurocode EN 1993-1-9 is based on categorization of structural details, which reflects their predisposition to fatigue failure. The paper deals with laboratory investigation of the riveted connection of stringer to cross beam of a railway bridge deck. This structural detail is typical by frequent occurrence of fatigue cracks, but its categorization according to standard mentioned above is at least questionable. In order to investigate and define the fatigue category of this detail more properly, the laboratory tests on specially adapted specimens were performed.
Highlights
The aim of fatigue assessment is to verify that the fatigue life of the evaluated structure corresponds to its planned service life time
The assessment is based on evaluating critical structural details prone to fatigue failure, which are classified according to corresponding fatigue categories specified in EN 1993-1-9 [1]
When the detail category is known, the fatigue assessment may be done using the appropriate S-N curve expressing the fatigue life of the detail dependent on the constant cyclic stress range caused by variable load
Summary
The aim of fatigue assessment is to verify that the fatigue life of the evaluated structure corresponds to its planned service life time. The assessment is based on evaluating critical structural details prone to fatigue failure, which are classified according to corresponding fatigue categories specified in EN 1993-1-9 [1]. When the detail category is known, the fatigue assessment may be done using the appropriate S-N curve expressing the fatigue life of the detail dependent on the constant cyclic stress range caused by variable load. Since the bridges are specific by stochastic character of the traffic load, the S-N curves used for their fatigue assessment were modified in order to consider a variable spectrum of stress ranges. The riveted connections of stringer to cross-beams in the case of railway bridges with open bridge decks are typical details prone to fatigue cracks.
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