FATIGUE EVALUATION OF U-RIB TO DECK WELD JOINT IN ORTHOTROPIC STEEL DECK BASED ON LOCAL STRESS AT WELD ROOT

Abstract

Many fatigue tests have been conducted to reproduce a root crack in deck-to-U rib welded joints and to investigate its fatigue durability. Nevertheless, no unified fatigue strength evaluation method for the root crack has been established. In this study, total of 154 fatigue test results were reproduced in the analysis to obtain artificial notch stress at weld root, and the test results were rearranged by the notch stress. Two million cycles fatigue strength and its standard deviation based on the notch stress are discussed in this paper. Two million cycles fatigue strength tends to be higher when the mean stress in cyclic loading is in compression. By correcting the test results with the stress ratio, all test results located around a unified fatigue strength curve.