Maintenance Actions to Address Fatigue Cracking in Steel Bridge Structures: Proposed Guidelines and Commentary

Monitoring of fatigue cracking in steel bridge structures using a combined passive and active scheme has been approached by the authors. Passive acoustic emission (AE) monitoring is able to detect crack growth behavior by picking up the stress waves resulting from the breathing of cracks while active ultrasonic pulsing can quantitatively assess structural defect by sensing out an interrogating pulse and receiving the structural reflections. The dual-mode sensing functionality is pursued by using the R15I ultrasonic transducers. In the paper, we presented the subject dual-mode sensing on steel compact tension (CT) specimens in a laboratory setup. Passive AE sensing was performed during fatigue loading and showed its capability to detect crack growth and location. At selected intervals of loading cycles, the test was paused to allow for active sensing by pulsing the transducers in a round-robin pattern. Plate waves were excited, propagated and interacted within the structure. Several approaches were proposed to analyze the interrogation data and to correlate the data features with crack growth. Root means square deviation (RMSD) damage index (DI) was found as a good indicator for indicating the overall crack development. Short time Fourier transform (STFT) provided both time and frequency information at the same time. Moreover, wave velocity analysis showed interesting results when crack developed across the transmitter-receiver path.

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Cold Retrofit Method Study for Fatigue Cracking of Steel Bridge

IABSE Symposium Report ◽

10.2749/222137815818358529 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 105 (23) ◽

pp. 1-8 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Chun-sheng Wang ◽

Chang-yang Ou ◽

Mu-sai Zhai ◽

Lan Duan

Keyword(s):

Fatigue Cracking ◽

Steel Bridge

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Review of annual progress of bridge engineering in 2019

Advances in Bridge Engineering ◽

10.1186/s43251-020-00011-w ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Renda Zhao ◽

Yuan Yuan ◽

Xing Wei ◽

Ruili Shen ◽

Kaifeng Zheng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Performance ◽

Concrete Bridges ◽

Bridge Engineering ◽

Research Progress ◽

Steel Bridge ◽

Wind Resistance ◽

Main Research ◽

Bridge Model ◽

Bridge Evaluation ◽

Bridge Structures

AbstractBridge construction is one of the cores of traffic infrastructure construction. To better develop relevant bridge science, this paper introduces the main research progress in China and abroad in 2019 from 13 aspects, including concrete bridges and the high-performance materials, the latest research on steel-concrete composite girders, advances in box girder and cable-supported bridge analysis theories, advance in steel bridges, the theory of bridge evaluation and reinforcement, bridge model tests and new testing techniques, steel bridge fatigue, wind resistance of bridges, vehicle-bridge interactions, progress in seismic design of bridges, bridge hydrodynamics, bridge informatization and intelligent bridge and prefabricated concrete bridge structures.

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Fatigue cracking monitoring and evaluation using smart sensors for steel bridge decks

Bridge Maintenance, Safety, Management, Resilience and Sustainability - Bridge Maintenance, Safety and Management ◽

10.1201/b12352-111 ◽

2012 ◽

pp. 818-823 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

C Wang ◽

L Tian ◽

B Fu ◽

Y Zhang

Keyword(s):

Bridge Decks ◽

Fatigue Cracking ◽

Monitoring And Evaluation ◽

Smart Sensors ◽

Steel Bridge

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Strengthening of steel decks for cable-stayed bridge using ultra-high performance concrete: A case study

Advances in Structural Engineering ◽

10.1177/1369433220939210 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 23 (16) ◽

pp. 3373-3384

Author(s):

Lei Wang ◽

Xiaochao Su ◽

Yafei Ma ◽

Ming Deng ◽

Jianren Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Performance ◽

High Performance Concrete ◽

Fatigue Cracking ◽

Strengthening Effect ◽

Steel Bridge ◽

Ultra High Performance Concrete ◽

Cable Stayed Bridge ◽

Local Stresses ◽

Orthotropic Steel Decks ◽

Strengthening Method

Fatigue cracking induced by vehicle load is a prevalent problem in orthotropic steel decks. In addition, pavement debonding in steel bridge decks is another familiar issue resulting from low slip resistance in the faying surface between the steel and asphalt concrete. The present study proposed a strengthening method that uses ultra-high performance concrete to stiffen a repeatedly maintained cable-stayed bridge in order to help address these two problems. The existing issues of the real bridge and the corresponding causes were investigated. Following this, an ultra-high performance concrete paving system was designed to improve the stiffness of the orthotropic steel decks. For this paving system, a 45-mm ultra-high performance concrete layer was connected to the deck by welded shear studs. The local stresses at the typical vulnerable fatigue cracking points were determined by means of a finite element model and of a field loading test to evaluate the strengthening effect. The results showed that this strengthening method can prevent the propagation of fatigue cracks. The local stresses of the U-ribs and diaphragms were reduced by 45.4% and 40.0%, respectively. The repaired bridge has sufficient resistance against fatigue cracking based on the in situ observations.

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An Inspection System to Identify Fatigue Damage on Steel-Bridge Structures

Journal of the Brazilian Society of Mechanical Sciences ◽

10.1590/s0100-73862002000100010 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 76-81 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

E. P. Deus ◽

W. S. Venturini ◽

U. Peil

Keyword(s):

Fatigue Damage ◽

Inspection System ◽

Steel Bridge ◽

Bridge Structures

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Effects of Surrounding Earth on Shell During the Construction of Flexible Bridge Structures

Studia Geotechnica et Mechanica ◽

10.2478/sgem-2019-0002 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 41 (2) ◽

pp. 67-73

Author(s):

Czesław Machelski

Keyword(s):

Steel Structure ◽

Steel Structures ◽

Static Condition ◽

Steel Bridge ◽

Interfacial Interactions ◽

Soil Medium ◽

Bridge Structures ◽

Internal Forces ◽

Bearing Loads ◽

Corrugated Plates

AbstractA characteristic feature of soil-steel structures is that, unlike in typical bridges, the backfill and the carriageway pavement with its foundation play a major role in bearing loads. In the soil-steel structure model, one can distinguish two structural subsystems: the shell made of corrugated plates and the backfill with the pavement layers. The interactions between the subsystems are modelled as interfacial interactions, that is, forces normal and tangent to the surface of the shell. This is a static condition of the consistency of mutual interactions between the surrounding earth and the shell, considering that slip can arise at the interface between the subsystems. This paper presents an algorithm for determining the internal forces in the shell on the basis of the unit strains in the corrugated plates, and subsequently, the interfacial interactions. The effects of loads arising during the construction of a soil-steel bridge when, for example, construction machines drive over the structure, are taken into account in the analysis of the internal forces in the shell and in the surrounding earth. During construction, the forces in the shell are usually many times greater than the ones generated by service loads. Thus, the analytical results presented in this paper provide the basis for predicting the behaviour of the soil medium under operational loads.

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