2016 Volume 23 Issue 91 Pages 91_31-91_41
A lot of fatigue cracks have been observed in welded joints between deck plates and vertical stiffeners of orthotropic steel decks under severe traffic load. Stop-hole method for preventing the extension of fatigue cracks is often used as a countermeasure against these fatigue cracks. However, its effect has not been so clear yet. In this study, for the purpose of making clear the effect of the stop-hole method, fatigue tests and finite element stress analyses are performed on small size specimens modeling the welded joints between deck plate and vertical stiffener. In addition, fatigue strength curve is proposed for performing the fatigue durability evaluation for the portion repaired by the stop-hole method.
