Abstract
This paper presents the fatigue strength of fillet weld joints at the web and flange plates in a horizontally curved plate girder. Firstly, an approximate formula to estimate the maximum out-of-plane bending stress in the web plate is proposed for fatigue design. Secondly, five curved plate girder models were fabricated according to the design criteria of the Japanese Specification for Highway Bridges (hereafter referred to as JSHB). Then, the model girders were tested up to the fatigue failure after having checked the stress distribution and displacements in the web plate through static loading tests. Finally, the fatigue strength of these fillet weld joints is examined based on the test results.
