Transverse load influence on tensile fatigue resistance of high-strength steel wires for structural applications in civil engineering

Abstract

Cold-drawn duplex stainless steel is an alternative to cold-drawn eutectoid steel to prevent the stress corrosion cracking risk in strands for structural uses as concrete prestressing and strand-tendons of cable stayed bridges. These possible applications create uncertainty concerning the fatigue behaviour of strand wires when subjected to the combined action of cyclic tensile loads and transverse loads that occur at the contact with the other strand wires or at the anchorages, couplers and deviators. This research compares the experimental behaviour of two cold-drawn wire types, manufactured from a lean duplex stainless steel and an eutectoid steel, when simultaneously subjected to transverse static and axial fatigue loads. The results show that the fatigue endurance required by the standards in force for prestressing steel wires, free from transverse loads are maintained by the two wire types even under transverse loads as high as 40% of their tensile strength.