Fatigue Testing of Ribbed Orthotropic Plate Bridge Elements

摘要

The purpose of the test program presented in this report was to determine the fatigue strength of several of the weld details of a steel deck stiffened with closed trapezoidal ribs. Four full-sized sections were tested: Two of the specimens had a small flange at the upper edge of the ribs and were attached to the deck using a continuous fillet weld. The ribs of the other specimens were straight and were attached to the deck with a bevel weld. An additional detail studied was two types of field rib splices. One of the rib splices consisted of a diaphragm plate that was fillet welded to the ribs. A buff weld and back up plate were used for the other splice. The members were first subjected to static loads up to the yield point of the material, then to fatigue loading of various levels and two of the members were statically loaded to failure after the fatigue tests. The straight ribs attached to the plate with a bevel weld and the butt welded splice were found to be satisfactory. The flanged ribs and diaphragm plate splice were not satisfactory, developing extensive fatigue cracks in the welds at relatively few cycles of loading. (Author)