Effects of Fabrication Procedures on Fatigue Resistance of Welded Joints in Steel Orthotropic Decks
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 14, Issue 5
Abstract
A common practice for the fabrication of steel orthotropic bridge decks in the United States is to use 80% partial joint penetration (PJP) groove welds between the closed ribs and deck plate. However, it is difficult to eliminate weld melt-through with the thin rib plates. Heat straightening after welding, sometimes combined with precambering, is used to meet the deck plate flatness requirement. To study the effects of both weld melt-through and distortion control measures on the fatigue resistance of the rib-to-deck plate welded joint, six full-scale two-span orthotropic deck specimens were subjected to laboratory testing. Specimens, 10 m long and 3 m wide with four closed ribs, were fabricated with and without weld melt-through and were heat straightened; three specimens were also precambered. To simulate the effect of repetitive truck traffic, each specimen was tested up to 8 million cycles. Test results showed that six cracks initiated from the weld toe outside the rib. Only one crack developed at the weld root inside the rib; this crack initiated from a location transitioning from the 80% PJP to 100% penetration weld. None of the cracks propagated through the deck plate thickness. Precambering was beneficial in fatigue resistance as two effectively precambered specimens did not experience cracking in the PJP welds.
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Acknowledgments
Funding for this research was provided by the California Department of Transportation. The writers would like to thank Mr. B. Boal, Dr. M. Wahbeh, Dr. E. Thimmhardy, and Dr. L. Duan of the California Department of Transportation for their advice. Professor John Fisher at Lehigh University served as a consultant for this project. Assistance from Dr. Takeshi Hanji, Dr. Jong-Kook Hong, and Dr. James Newell was much appreciated.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 14 • Issue 5 • September 2009
Pages: 366 - 373
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Nov 5, 2007
Accepted: Feb 9, 2009
Published online: Aug 14, 2009
Published in print: Sep 2009
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