Fatigue of Steel Bridges - 1st edition

Main objective: providing the knowledge and tools required to design a bridge structure so that it has an adequate fatigue life.

Side objectives:

• Phenomenon of fatigue: Obtain knowledge on the basics of fatigue and fracture of (welded, bolted and riveted) joints, including the aspects that are relevant and that are less relevant.
• Designing for fatigue: basics of calculation using S-N curves, background of S-N curves, scatter in fatigue strength, importance of execution quality.
• Fatigue loads in bridges: measurements of road traffic, measurements of rail traffic, determining which load effects are important, relationship with fatigue load models in standards.
• Stress definition: when to use nominal stress, geometric stress and effective notch stress. How to extract the correct stresses from the finite element method.
• Fatigue of orthotropic bridge decks: issues, remedies, repair and strengthening methods.
• Remaining life after inspection: how to determine the remaining life and inspection intervals using fracture mechanics.

Program:

• Introduction into fatigue and fracture
• Fatigue of parent metal and cables
• Fatigue of welded joints
• Fatigue of bolted and riveted joints
• Orthotropic bridge decks
• Fluctuating loads on bridges
• Determination of stresses
• Fracture mechanics
• Practical examples

Reference standards:

• EN 1993-2: Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures - Part 2: Steel bridges
• EN1993-1-9: Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures - Part 1-9: Fatigue
• EN1993-1-10: Eurocode 3: Design of steel structures - Part 1-10: Material toughness and through-thickness properties
• BS 7910:2013 Guide to methods for assessing the acceptability of flaws in metallic structures

Coordinator: Prof. Luís Borges | Structurame

Speakers: Prof. Luís Borges | Structurame; Prof. Johan Maljaars | TNO