Fatigue Resistance and Durability of New Mechanical Connections of Currently Developed Temporary steel Footbridges and Railway Bridges

Abstract

On the workplace of paper authors', the experimental studies of the fatigue behaviour and fatigue resistance of several new types of steel mechanical connections have been performed recently. The problems of mechanical connections mentioned above have been solved in the past within the projects of the development of new types of advanced temporary steel bridges and footbridges, with the support of the programme of applied research, development and innovations of the Technology Agency of the Czech Republic. These newly developed connections represent the assembly joints based on the bolts and pins together with plates. Within this investigation, fatigue tests of connections have been performed. The experimental studies have been oriented to the verification of the behaviour of those connections and especially, the fatigue strength, and subsequently the fatigue resistance and durability of the structural detail according to the configuration and structural design.