Analysis of the Fatigue Stress on Welded Joints of the U-Rib in an Orthotropic Steel Deck

With the improvement in the quality of steel materials, the issue of fatigue cracking has become more important for steel bridges than the failure of the material itself. In this study, the Pelikan-Esslinger method was used to determine the fatigue stress of an orthotropic steel deck. A parametric study was then conducted with the steel deck components as the parameters. Based on the results, the effect of the diverse components of the steel deck on the fatigue stress was analyzed.