Evaluation of Structural Responses on Artificial Fatigue Crack for Bulb Rib Orthotropic Deck

Abstract

An orthotropic steel deck is quite susceptible to fatigue cracking at its welded joints depending on the structural stiffness, occurrence of high-magnitude cyclic load stress, and complicated geometric details of the welded joints. This study experimentally and numerically investigated the structural behavior of an orthotropic steel deck with bulb ribs. The behavior of the deck was examined, particularly the warped deformations of the developed fatigue cracks and the uniform stress distributions against moving loads attributed to the deck's asymmetric bulb ribs. An artificial fatigue crack serving as an authentic model of a fatigue crack was developed in the longitudinal bulb rib of an orthotropic steel deck in actual service. The loading tests were conducted on an orthotropic steel deck with artificial fatigue cracks. The test results were evaluated based on the artificial fatigue crack length on the longitudinal bulb ribs and compared with a nonlinear full finite-element analysis model considering the nonlinear contact behavior of artificial fatigue cracks.

Research on Fatigue Strength for Weld Structure Details of Deck with U-rib and Diaphragm in Orthotropic Steel Bridge Deck

“…Due to the advantages such as a light weight, guarantee of high quality, convenience for in-situ assembling process, etc., the orthotropic steel decks have become very frequently used in the construction of bridges [1][2][3]. The orthotropic steel bridge deck is a steel deck system with longitudinal ribs and floor beams to support and resist the applied loads such as vehicles and the dead load, and transfer these loads to the main bridge system, which has different types of structures and stiffness values in the longitudinal and transverse directions [4,5]. Much study has shown that the fatigue failure was one of the major factors in the failure of steel bridges [6][7][8][9], and which is liable to fatigue cracking once placed in service [10].…”

Probabilistic corrosion fatigue life assessment of a suspension bridge instrumented with long-term structural health monitoring system

“…This is mainly because that not only the effective cross-sectional area of structural components will be reduced but also the fatigue strength of structural components will be deteriorated. Therefore, it becomes a critical issue to assess the long-term performance and safety condition of offshore bridge structures under the coupled effect of corrosion and fatigue (Chen et al, 2012; El Aghoury and Galal, 2014; Feng et al, 2014; Huang et al, 2014; Kainuma et al, 2015; Li et al, 2013, 2015; Yang et al, 2015).…”

Behavior and stress of orthotropic deck with bulb rib by surface corrosion

“…An orthotropic steel bridge deck is a steel deck system with longitudinal ribs and floor beams to support and resist the applied loads such as vehicles and the dead load and transfer these loads to the main bridge system, which has different types of structures and stiffness values in the longitudinal and transverse directions [1]. It has a lighter weight, higher durability, and more rapid construction potential than a traditional concrete bridge deck [2].…”