Fatigue Assessment of Butt Joint with Weld Defect in Steel Bridge

강교 용접 결함부의 피로평가

There are many weld defects such as surface crack, lack of fusion, and imcomplete penetration in the butt joint of the existing steel bridges. The crack-like defects may significantly reduce the fatigue life of the structure. This paper presents the procedure and the results of the fatigue assessment of the butt joints with weld defect in the existing steel girder bridge. The butt joints with imcomple penetration were instrumented with strain gages to determine the stress histogram under normal traffic. Based on the measured stress histogram the crack propagation analyses were performed for the fatigue assesment. By using the suggested procedure and methodology, one can decide the time of periodic inspection and the necessity of repair of the butt joints with serious weld defects in the existing steel bridge.