Abstract
The authors have proposed the methods of retrofitting orthotropic steel decks for the fatigue cracks between the deck plate and the U-shaped rib. The method is applying bolt friction joints with L-shaped steel plates by fastening stud bolts for the bottom surface of orthotropic steel decks without traffic control. The stud bolts need high fatigue endurance because they shall be welded and fastened in high tension at orthotropic steel decks eternally. In this study, in order to investigate fatigue endurance of the stud bolts, the cyclic tensile loading tests and FEM analysis were carried out. The obtained results indicate that the steel plate applied the patch plate by fastening the stud bolt have fatigue endurance equal to or greater than steel plate without the patch plate because a force acting at welding zone was transmitted to the patch plate.
