Fatigue Life Prediction of Heavy-Duty Riveted Steel Gratings in Bridge Decks
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 21, Issue 4
Abstract
Heavy-duty riveted steel gratings often occur as open-grid deck systems used in movable bridge construction and in rehabilitation projects due to their light weight compared with conventional systems. Open-grid decks have been used in a number of bridges, with the majority fabricated as welded decks. Field and laboratory experience with heavy-duty riveted steel gratings indicates improved fatigue performance compared with welded decks, but no specific provisions currently exist. This study explored a fatigue life prediction methodology for riveted gratings using fracture mechanics. The models involve crack growth rate relations and approximate stress intensity factor solutions for a crack in a bearing bar of the grating. Two failure modes of the riveted gratings were considered based on results of fatigue testing of both full-size and smaller-size samples of a 37R5 lite panel under various stress ranges. Results from the fracture mechanics approach compared well with experimental results. The proposed methodology may be applied to different configurations of riveted grating that contains bearing bars with rivets as the critical detail. Using the proposed method, the predicted fatigue life of a 37R5 lite with riveted details is estimated.
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References
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 21 • Issue 4 • April 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 17, 2015
Accepted: Sep 3, 2015
Published online: Dec 30, 2015
Published in print: Apr 1, 2016
Discussion open until: May 30, 2016
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