2015 Volume 71 Issue 4 Pages 323-337
This study is intended to establish a method of evaluating fatigue damage for RC bridge deck slabs (hereinafter referred to as “RC slabs”) , using the wave shapes of average strains which are measured by long basis optical strand sensors on the undersurface of RC slabs with traffic load on bridges. First of all, the wheel load tests were conducted with three different conditions of RC slab specimens. As a result, it was found that the following indicators could be the ones for evaluating fatigue damage of RC slabs. (1) Average strain amplitude in transverse direction measured by sensors. (2) Average strain amplitude ratio obtained by dividing longitudinal average strain amplitude by transverse average strain amplitude. (3) Change point of the average strain amplitude ratio in time-shift. Furthermore, to validate the reasonability and the applicability of the method, same sensors were applied on the undersurface of the RC slab of a practical bridge whose fatigue damage was carefully examined. The result showed the consistency with the actual fatigue damage.
