Study on improvement of the fatigue durability by filling of mortar in U-shaped rib of orthotropic steel deck

Abstract

The authors study on the method of retrofitting orthotropic steel deck without need for traffic restriction for eliminating fatigue cracks originating from the weld between the deck plate and U-shaped rib and preventing fatigue damage. We proposed the retrofitting method as filling of mortar in U-shaped rib and installation of the splice plates between the U-shaped rib. The static loading test and the wheel load running test were carried out in order to verify the fatigue durability and the stiffening effects by the retrofitting. The test results showed a remarkable effect of the stress reduction and fatigue durability.