STUDY ON RETROFIT EFFECT BY SFRC OVERLAY FOR EXISTING ORTHOTROPIC STEEL DECK WITH FATIGUE CRACK THROUGH RIB-TO-DECK WELD

Abstract

 Recently, serious fatigue cracks have been reported increasingly at rib-to-deck weld in orthotropic steel decks on severe traffic highway routes. As an effective countermeasure for these fatigue cracks, steel-fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC) overlay is being gradually used, while crack tips are removed for local stress reduction in the shape of cut-out details. Static/fatigue loading tests and FE analyses were conducted for a full scale existing steel deck specimen overlaid by SFRC in order to investigate fatigue behavior around cut-out details by changing length and location of cracks through rib-to-weld. In this paper, these results are presented and retrofit effect by SFRC overlay is discussed.