Reducing Brittle and Fatigue Failures in Steel Structures

Abstract

• Sponsored by the Technical Council on Forensic Engineering of ASCE.

  This report provides a one-stop reference of failures in steel structures, along with considerations for preventing them. The versatility of structural steel allows it to perform outstandingly in countless applications. However, repeated failures associated with fracture and/or fatigue mechanisms including, notably, the 1994 Northridge earthquake, the 1995 Kobe earthquake, and the I-35W Mississippi River Bridge collapse in Minneapolis in 2007 highlighted concerns for the life of bridge structures, particularly with regard to fatigue and corrosion.

  Although problems with fatigue and brittle have been well documented, these factors and issues have not yielded state-of-the-art design practices. This book gives engineers a better understanding of steel, its limitations, and its applications, in order to reduce brittle and fatigue failures.

  This book will be a valuable resource for structural engineers, as well as professionals involved in bridge construction, design, and maintenance.