Bridge Rating with Consideration for Fatigue Damage from Overloads

This paper presents a proposed rating model that incorporates the fatigue damaging effects of overloads. This is achieved by introducing a “fatigue index” in the rating equation. The index, which appears in the form of a correction factor in the rating equation, is intended as a means to reduce the rating value computed for a bridge in cases where the damage from overloads is expected to be significant. The use of this index by itself does not impose any upper limit on the total number of overloads that may annually be permitted on a bridge. However, because the use of the index will result in a lower rating value than those from current equations, it is expected that a certain number of overloads will ultimately be disallowed. This provides for a built-in mechanism that will eventually result in lower fatigue damage to highway bridges resulting from overloads. In developing the model, typical records of overloads were acquired and used in bridge structural analyses to determine the damaging effect of overloads. The study on five bridges showed that fatigue damage from overloads can use up about 3.5% of fatigue life over a 25-year period if the overload occurrences remain at the current level. The use of the proposed index is in line with this amount of fatigue damage. This percentage is rather low and may not, in fact, be critical for most bridges over a 25-year period. However for older bridges, this percentage of fatigue life consumption may become important. Many such bridges were designed for a lower gross truck weight than what is used today for bridge design. Some of these bridges are located along feeder ramps and must carry loads in excess of 356 kN (80 kip) in an overload situation. For this group of bridges, it may be important to consider imposing a limit on the amount of fatigue damage resulting from frequent overloads. However, additional studies on a larger pool of bridges will be needed to establish a baseline for a maximum percentage fatigue life that can be used for overload permits.