Extending the Fatigue Life of Riveted Coped Stringer Connections
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 10, Issue 1
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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Acknowledgments
This work was funded through support provided by WSDOT. This funding is gratefully acknowledged. Mr. Harvey Coffman was the technical advisor on the research and his advice and assistance is greatly appreciated.
References
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 10 • Issue 1 • January 2005
Pages: 69 - 76
Copyright
© 2004 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 16, 2002
Accepted: Jul 29, 2003
Published online: Jan 1, 2005
Published in print: Jan 2005
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