Fatigue Behavior of Rib-to-Floor Beam Junctions with Separate Inner Stiffeners in Orthotropic Steel Bridge Decks
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 27, Issue 5
Abstract
The fatigue of orthotropic steel bridge decks (OSBDs) is a bottleneck for its application, especially the fatigue of rib-to-floor beam (RF) junction. Thus, it is necessary to optimize the RF junction to improve its fatigue performance. In this study, the effect of equipping a separate inner stiffener (SIS) on the fatigue performance of an RF junction was investigated. The growth of fatigue cracks in the weld toe of the rib at the RF junction tip (RT) was examined through static and fatigue tests of a full-scale OSBD. Moreover, the influence of crack growth on other details was also studied. Subsequently, the fatigue strengths of two cracked details and the minimum fatigue strengths of four uncracked details were evaluated considering the results of a finite-element analysis. Finally, the verified finite-element model was used to analyze the influence of the form and size of the inner stiffener on the fatigue performance of RF junction. The SIS was found to be the most optimal inner stiffener, and its recommended size was obtained. When the recommended RF junction was adopted, the most unfavorable stress of the RT detail most prone to fatigue cracking could be reduced by 51.3%.
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank Dr. Ming Zhou and Mr. Ziqiang Gan for their assistance in the laboratory testing and Mr. Pengfei Men for his writing assistance. This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFC0705501); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52008215); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51878099); the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province, China (Grant No. LQ20E080013).
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- a
- height of the floor beam cutouts;
- bi
- length of the lower edge of the inner stiffener protruding from the end of the floor beam cutouts in RF junction with the TIIS;
- bs
- length of the lower edge of the inner stiffener protruding from the end of the floor beam cutouts in RF junction with the SIS;
- C1, C2
- label of crack located at the position connecting F2 to the left side of Rib R2;
- C1, C2
- label of crack located at the position connecting F3 to the left side of Rib R2;
- cs
- width of the lower edge of the inner stiffener in RF junction with the SIS;
- F1–F3
- label of floor beams from the south to the north in the specimen;
- F2R1R
- the label of RF junction connecting F2 to the right side of Rib R1;
- F2R2L
- label of RF junction connecting F2 to the left side of Rib R2;
- F3R1R
- label of RF junction connecting F3 to the right side of Rib R1;
- F3R2L
- label of RF junction connecting F3 to the left side of Rib R2;
- H1–H4
- label of floor beams from the south to the north in the finite-element model;
- Q1, Q2
- RF junction connecting the middle rib and Floor beam H2 in finite-element model;
- R1–R6
- label of ribs from left to right in the specimen; and
- ts
- thickness of the inner stiffener.
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Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 27 • Issue 5 • May 2022
Copyright
© 2022 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 31, 2021
Accepted: Jan 7, 2022
Published online: Feb 23, 2022
Published in print: May 1, 2022
Discussion open until: Jul 23, 2022
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