Fatigue Strength of Girders with Tapered Cover Plates

摘要

The main objective of the research was to investigate the fatigue strength ofsteel bridge beam members that contain welded partial-length, tapered cover plates which have been repaired. It is well known that welded cover plate details have a low fatigue resistance and are susceptible to the development of fatigue cracks at the toe of the end welds. The performance of three repair methods was evaluated experimentally: a friction type bolted splice plate connection, air-hammer peening, and a hybrid of the previous two called a partial bolted splice connection.