Abstract
The incomplete penetration(IP) discontinuity in butt joint weld, which is detected during safety analysis of the steel bridge by nondestructive evaluation(NDE) method, is classified as unacceptable defect according to the NDE codes and standards. In fact, there are a little allowance in butt joint weld in the view point of design criterion, and also detected IP discontinuity should be classified and evaluated for the fatigue strength and residual life estimation. In this study, we performed fatigue test to evaluate the fatigue strength of high strength steel(SWS490A) containing IP discontinuities in various size, the results compared and classified according to the bridge construction standard specification which published by korea administration of construction and traffic. Experimental results could be used to evaluate and estimate the IP discontinuities considering different stress range in butt joint bridge weld during periodic safety inspection.