Experimental study on the fatigue performance of roof and U-rib welds of orthotropic steel bridge decks

The fatigue performance of a roof-U rib weld on orthotropic steel bridge decks was studied by fatigue experiments on 40 specimens, considering the influences of amplitude, penetration rate, loading position, and steel strength. Influences of different factors on the fatigue life of crack initiation and specimen failure were studied by analysis of crack propagation in the weld and changes in stress amplitude. In addition, nominal stress amplitudes and hot spot stress amplitudes of the welds were compared and the suggested values of fatigue strength were proposed according to the test results. The study shows that increase of penetration rate can decrease the crack propagation rate and extend failure fatigue life. A larger steel strength can increase the fatigue strength of crack initiation. Under the same loading conditions, the fatigue life of crack initiation is about half of the failure fatigue strength. A nominal stress of 70 MPa and a hot spot stress of 75 MPa are recommended for fatigue strength of roof-U rib welds under the manufacturing process investigated here.

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