• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.443-451
• /
• 2007

The improvement of stiffness by the increase of thickness of deck plate or the reinforcement of longitudinal rib is one method among the effective methods to control fatigue damages occurring in orthotropic steel deck. It is likely that the increase of stiffness is effective to restrain local deformation caused by axial load in the steel deck. Therefore, in this study, the parameter studies for the reinforced structural details such as the bulk-head plate and vertical rib which is established to reduce the resultant stresses in the connection parts of the longitudinal rib and floor beam were performed with FE analysis. From the results, it was known that the reinforced structural detail with the bulk-head plate in the longitudinal ribs reduced overall the principal stresses at the connection parts, but the stress concentration increased in the weld toe parts which are occurring fatigue cracks. Also, it was estimated that the reinforced structural detail with the vortical rib in the longitudinal ribs because of the reduction of stress concentration in the weld toe parts is more effective details than the bulk-head plate.

• Magazine of the Korea Institute for Structural Maintenance and Inspection
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.38-43
• /
• 2014

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.367-382
• /
• 2015

This paper aims to conduct the reliability-based assessment of the welded joint in the orthotropic steel bridge deck by use of a mesh-insensitive structural stress (MISS) method, which is an effective numerical procedure to determine the reliable stress distribution adjacent to the weld toe. Both the solid element model and the shell element model are first established to investigate the sensitivity of the element size and the element type in calculating the structural stress under different loading scenarios. In order to achieve realistic condition assessment of the welded joint, the probabilistic approach based on the structural reliability theory is adopted to derive the reliability index and the failure probability by taking into account the uncertainties inherent in the material properties and load conditions. The limit state function is formulated in terms of the structural resistance of the material and the load effect which is described by the structural stress obtained by the MISS method. The reliability index is computed by use of the first-order reliability method (FORM), and compared with a target reliability index to facilitate the safety assessment. The results achieved from this study reveal that the calculation of the structural stress using the MISS method is insensitive to the element size and the element type, and the obtained structural stress results serve as a reliable basis for structural reliability analysis.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.237-247
• /
• 2001

강상판교는 부재수가 많고 구조적 거동이 복잡하여 재래적인 단일수준 (CSL) 알고리즘을 이용하여 최적화하는 것이 매우 어렵기 때문에 본 연구에서는 강상판교를 효율적으로 최적화하기 위해 다단계 최적설계 (MLDS) 알고리즘이 제안되었다. 강상판교를 주형과 강상판으로 나누기 위해 등위법이 사용되었고, 시스템 최적화를 위하여 설계 변수를 줄이는 분해법이 사용되었다. 효율적인 최적설계를 위해 다단계 최적설계 알고리즘은 제약조건 소거기법(Constraint Deletion)과 응력 재해석 같은 근사화 기법을 도입하였다. 변위해석을 위한 제약조건 소거기법은 교량의 최적화에 효율적인 것으로 검증되었고, 제안된 응력 재해석 기법 또한 설계민감도 해석을 필요로 하지 않으므로 매우 효율적이다. MLDS 알고리즘의 적용성과 강건성은 다양한 수치예제를 사용하여 기존의 단일수준 알고리즘과 비교하였다.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.319-329
• /
• 2018

The field around additional cutout of the floor beam web in orthotropic bridge deck was subjected to high stress concentration, especially the weld toe between floor beam and U shaped rib and the free edge of the additional cutout. Based on different considerations, different geometrical parameters of additional cutout were proposed in European, American and Japanese specifications, and there remained remarkable differences among them. In this study, considering influence of out-of-plane deformation of floor beam web and U shaped rib, parameter analysis for additional cutout under typical load cases was performed by fine finite element method. The influence of additional cutout shape and height to the stress distribution around the additional cutout were investigated and analyzed. Meanwhile, the static and fatigue test on this structure details was carried out. The stress distribution was consistent with the finite element analysis results. The fatigue property for additional cutout height of 95mm was slightly better than that of 61.5 mm.

• International Journal of Railway
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.89-92
• /
• 2012

Effective notch stress, as an approach to evaluate the local stress at a notch (weld toe or root), is defined as the total stress assuming linear-elastic material behavior. This method can be effectively used to evaluate the fatigue performance of welded joints. In this study, finite element analysis results using the effective notch stress method were correlated with fatigue test results of rib-to-deck welded joints in a steel orthotropic bridge deck. Effective notch stress approach provided a good correlation with the crack pattern observed in the full-scale fatigue test. A higher effective notch stress at the critical weld toe than at the weld root was consistent with the dominant crack pattern observed at the weld toe during testing. The effective notch stress at the toe on the deck plate was about 80% higher than that on the rib; no cracks at the weld toe on the rib in the testing were observed. Maximum effective notch stress at the weld root occurred on the upper side of the root notch, which indicates that cracks are more likely to propagate into the deck plate, not into the weld metal. This is also consistent with the observed crack pattern in which the crack from the root propagated upward into the deck plate. No such crack pattern, propagating into the weld metal, was observed in the testing.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.39 no.4
• /
• pp.453-469
• /
• 2021

The cracking at the transverse diaphragm cutout is one of the most severe fatigue failures threatening orthotropic steel decks (OSDs), whose mechanisms and crack treatment techniques have not been fully studied. In this paper, full-scale experiments were first performed to investigate the fatigue performance of polished cutouts involving the effect of an artificial geometrical defect. Following this, comparative experimental testing for defective cutouts strengthened with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) was carried out. Numerical finite element analysis was also performed to verify and explain the experimental observations. Results show that the combinative effect of the wheel load and thermal residual stress constitutes the external driving force for the fatigue cracking of the cutout. Initial geometrical defects are confirmed as a critical factor affecting the fatigue cracking. The principal stress 6 mm away from the free edge of the cutout can be adopted as the nominal stress of the cutout during fatigue evaluation, and the fatigue resistance of polished cutouts is higher than Grade A in AASHTO specification. The bonded CFRP system is highly effective in extending the fatigue life of the defective cutouts. The present study provides some new insights into the fatigue evaluation and repair of OSDs.

• Steel and Composite Structures
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.135-148
• /
• 2015

The cutout hole locating at the place of rib-to-diaphragm welded connection is adopted to minimize the restraint, which is caused by the floor-beam web to rib rotation at the support due to the unsymmetrical loads in orthotropic deck. In practice, an inevitable problem is that there is a large number of welding joint's cracks formed at the edge of cutout hole. In this study, a comparative experiment is carried out with two types of cutout hole, the circular arc transition and the vertical transition. The fatigue life estimation of specimens is investigated with the application of the structural hot spot stress approach by finite element analyses. The results are compared with the ones of the fatigue tests which are carried out on these full-scale specimens. Factors affecting the stress range are also studied.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Hazard Mitigation
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.41-47
• /
• 2009

Transverse rib web of orthotropic steel decks is highly susceptible to stress concentration due to out-of-plane and oil canning deformation caused by longitudinal rib distortion. In particular, stress concentrations are observed in the crossing point of longitudinal rib-transverse rib-deck plate, and cutout parts of transverse rib. The main objective of this study is to improve structure performance and to reduce the stress concentration of aforementioned susceptible parts. It is known that the installation of diaphragm alleviates stress concentrations between crossing point ant cutout. The influence of transverse rib placement and cutout width on stress concentrations was thoroughly investigated through numerical analyses. The numerical result showed that diaphragms produce the structural details for improved structure performance, when the transverse rib was placed in the same location with diaphragms. In any case, it is certain that the installation of diaphragms has more advantageous than the case without diaphragms in terms of structure performance of orthotropic steel decks. In this study, the distance ratio($y_i/y_{total}$) is defined as the ratio of the distance($y_{total}$) between the deck plate and longitudinal rib bottom to the distance($y_i$) between the deck plate and crossing point of longitudinal rib-transverse rib in cutout part. It has been found that the optimal distance ratio was 0.85 from the numerical simulation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.243-251
• /
• 2016

Longitudinally structural cracks are sometimes observed in the pavement on steel plate deck bridges because traffic truck loadings can cause large local deformations of the thin deck plate stiffened by longitudinal and transverse beams. In this study, an improved finite strip method using flat-shell strip, prism, and link elements is presented to investigate local deformations of steel decks with pavements in which flexural and torsional stiffness effects of thin floor beams are rigorously taken into account. A simplified deck model extracted from steel plate-girder bridges is analyzed using the developed FSM and the commercial FE program, ABAQUS and also, their numerical results are compared and discussed.