Abstract
Fatigue cracking at the diaphragm cutout is one of the major diseases of orthotropic steel decks (OSDs). Sufficient fatigue tests are needed to validate the fatigue resistance, fatigue evaluation method, and crack treatment techniques of the cutout detail. Fatigue tests on full-scale OSD models were carried out to investigate the fatigue performance of polished cutouts, defective cutouts (with artificial defects), and defective cutouts strengthened with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP). Combined with the finite element method, the fatigue assessment methods for the polished cutout details were also studied. The results show that the fatigue lives of polished cutouts exceed 50 million cycles under standard fatigue vehicle loads, indicating that fatigue cracks will not occur during the service period. There is a significant concentration of compressive stresses around the cutout under the effect of wheel load, and the combined effect of the wheel load stress and thermal residual stress constitutes an external driving force of the fatigue cracking. Moreover, the initial geometric defect is also an important reason for this fatigue cracking. For the fatigue evaluation of polished cutouts, the principal stress 6 mm away from the free edge of the cutouts on the surface of the transverse diaphragm can be used as the nominal stress, and the fatigue resistance is proved to be higher than fatigue grade A (with an constant-amplitude fatigue threshold of 165 MPa) in the specification of American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). The externally bonded CFRP reinforcement is effective in arresting the fatigue crack propagation at the defective cutouts. If a 6.5-mm-long fatigue crack is taken as the damage tolerance, the fatigue life of the diaphragm cutouts strengthened with CFRP on one side is more than 14.5 times that of the un-strengthened ones. The fatigue life can be further improved if double-side CFRP strengthening is applied, which should be studied in the future.
| Translated title of the contribution | Fatigue Behavior and CFRP Reinforcement of Diaphragm Cutouts in Orthotropic Steel Bridge Decks |
|---|---|
| Original language | Chinese (Traditional) |
| Pages (from-to) | 63-75 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Zhongguo Gonglu Xuebao/China Journal of Highway and Transport |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 2021 |
Keywords
- Bridge engineering
- CFRP
- Fatigue behavior
- Full-scale model test
- Orthotropic steel bridge deck
- Reinforcement
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Civil and Structural Engineering
- Transportation
- Mechanical Engineering