Fatigue Strength of Retrofitted Cover Plates

Fatigue Strength of Girders with Tapered Covered Plates

“…A distinct difference in the dominate failure mode was observed between tapered and square-end cover plates. It is believed this is attributed to the significant flexibility of the splice plate connection used with the taper cover plate: due to differences in length, the splice plates used by Sahli et al (1984) were four times stiffer than those used in the present study. This higher flexibility reduces the force carried by the splice plate and, consequently, increases the stresses in the flange at the weld toe.…”

“…The beam configuration and specimen dimensions, shown in Fig. 4.1, were similar to the test specimens utilized by Sahli, Albrecht, and Vannoy (1984) on square ended cover plates. Tapered cover plates, 60-in long and 0.5-in thick, were welded to both flanges of the beams.…”

“…Albrecht, and Vannoy (1984) on the repair of beams with welded cover plates using bolted splice plates indicated that this detail has a fatigue life described by Category B in the AASHTO Specifications (Standard Specifications for HighwayBridges, 1989). It should be noted that square ended cover plates were used in the study.…”