Fatigue Cracking of Riveted, Coped, Stringer-to-Floorbeam Connections

摘要

Fatigue cracking has been noted in a number of riveted, coped stringer-to-floorbeam connections on truss bridges in Washington state. The fatigue cracking has raised uncertainty regarding the future performance and life expectancy of these bridges. This laboratory experimental research study evaluated the expected performance of these critical connections to better understand the causes of the fatigue cracking and to compare and evaluate several damage limitation methods for this critical location.