A REPORT ON RETROFIT METHOD UNDER TRUFFIC AGAINST FATIGUE CRACKING ON THE ORTHOTROPIC DECK PLATE WELDING

Abstract

Recently, a number of fatigue cracks have been detected in orthotropic steel decks. Among them, fatigue cracking in the welded joint between steel deck and ribs or stiffeners is possible to propagate to deck plate and it has a risk to do harm to the traffic pass by on the deck plate. So, development of effective retrofit method is strongly needed. In this study, fatigue tests, and damage investigation were conducted to evaluate the fatigue cracking behavior in the welded joint and to verify the effect of proposed retrofitting method.