FATIGUE DAMAGE CASES DUE TO INAPPROPRIATE FABRICATION IN STEEL BRIDGE STRUCTURES

Abstract

Fatigue damage cases in steel bridge structures which were caused by weld defects due to inappropriate fabrication were studied in connection with the provisions of specifications for highway bridges. The most of fabrication faults and/or weld defects were resulted in violation of specifications, such as disapproved change of weld details to partial penetration or fillet welds instead of full penetration welds designed. The difficulty of fabrication and quality control caused these problems and these have to be considered in the design of joint details.