Extending the Fatigue Life of Riveted Coped Stringer Connections |
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Authors: | Charles W Roeder Gregory MacRae Amy Leland Athena Rospo |
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Affiliation: | 1Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-2700. 2Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-2700. 3Structural Engineer, Washington State Dept. of Transportation, 4500 3rd Ave. SE, Lacey, WA 98503. 4Structural Engineer, DAmato Conversano Inc., 2821 Northrup Way, Suite 200, Bellevue, WA 98004.
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Abstract: | Fatigue cracking occurs at the copes of stringer–floorbeam connections of older, riveted steel bridges. Some cracks are quite long and raise serious questions regarding the remaining fatigue life of the subject bridges. Damage limitation methods (DLMs) have been used to increase the fatigue life of these stringers, but the effectiveness of the DLMs for these riveted connections had never been evaluated by tests. Therefore, tests were conducted to evaluate the fatigue life of coped, riveted stringer–floorbeam connections, and the effectiveness of DLMs. Fatigue cracks in the coped stringer–floorbeam connection were initially developed to establish crack initiation requirements and the rate and extent of crack growth. Once a significant crack was noted, one of several DLMs was applied, and the specimens were retested to determine the effectiveness of the DLM in controlling cracking. These DLMs included the drilled hole, the inserted bolt and the removed rivet methods. The relative effectiveness of the methods is described, and a design procedure is proposed for improving their performance. |
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Keywords: | Bridges truss Bridges steel Fatigue Fatigue life Fatigue tests Cracking Connections |
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