High-Cycle Fatigue Performance of the Heat-Affected Zone of Q370qENH Weathering Bridge Steel
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 36, Issue 4
Abstract
Q370qENH weathering steel is widely used in railway steel bridge construction in China. However, limited research has been conducted on the high-cycle fatigue damage of the welds in weathering steel railway bridges. In this study, we conducted experimental tests to investigate the high-cycle fatigue performance of the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of Q370qENH weathering steel. First, coarse-grain heat-affected zone (CGHAZ) specimens and fine-grain heat-affected zone (FGHAZ) specimens of Q370qENH were obtained using the welding thermal simulation (WTS) method. The accuracy of the WTS method was verified through metallographic structure analysis. Subsequently, high-cycle fatigue tests were conducted on the base material and HAZ specimens. Then, probabilistic stress-life (P-S-N) curves and the fatigue strength of the Q370qENH HAZ were obtained. Finally, the fatigue extension mechanism of the Q370qENH HAZ was examined. The results indicate that the WTS method effectively produced HAZ specimens matching the welded joint. The fatigue life of the FGHAZ and CGHAZ specimens was significantly lower than that of the Q370qENH base material. The fatigue strength of HAZ was approximately 80% of that of the base material, and the fatigue strength reference of the Q370qENH HAZ was 175 MPa. Furthermore, the CGHAZ specimens were more prone to slip and had a high stress concentration at the microscopic scale, leading to their inferior fatigue performance. This study provides a valuable reference for the design and fatigue assessment of weathering steel bridges.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The research was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52078498), National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. SQ2022YFB2600261-1), Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province of China (Grant No. 2022JJ30745), Science and Technology Research and Development Plan of China National Railway Group Co., Ltd. (Grant No. L2021G006), Key Scientific Research Program of Transportation Industry of Shandong Province (Grant No. 2021-MS4-097), Science and Technology Plan of Shandong Provincial Department of Transportation (Grant No. 2021B103), Science and Technology Research and Development Program Project of China Railway Group Limited (Major Special Project No. 2021-Special-04-2), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Central South University (Grant No. 2020zzts149). The authors would like to thank all the reviewers who participated in the review, as well as MJEditor (www.mjeditor.com) for providing English editing services during the preparation of this manuscript.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 36 • Issue 4 • April 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: May 31, 2023
Accepted: Sep 15, 2023
Published online: Jan 23, 2024
Published in print: Apr 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Jun 23, 2024
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