Abstract
Fatigue strengths and fracture characteristics of large-size gusset joints are described in this paper. High strength steels of 30 and 45mm thickness are used for specimens. The specimens are fabricated using a similar procedure to that for the actual bridges. In the three types of in-plane and three types of out-of-plane gusset joints, the fatigue strength decreases as stress concentration increases. The results from this study have been used as basis for the revision of the fatigue design code for the Honshu-Shikoku Brideges.
