Measurements and interpretation of dynamic loads on bridges : fourth phase : fatigue design of European orthotropic steel bridges deck

In the last few decades, the traffic intensity and the wheel loads on bridges have increased considerably, resulting in fatigue cracks and repairs. Within the framework of research funded by the European Coal and Steel Community, several programmes have been carried out to investigate the traffic loads, the stresses they produce and the fatigue performance of various details. These programmes have been carried out by seven research institutes in six countries of the European Community. Especially in the programmes carried out now, the experimental research has been carried out in combination with numerical and analytical studies to obtain better insight into the stress distribution of the various connections in steel orthotropic bridge decks with closed longitudinal stiffeners. This report highlights the Dutch results obtained in the fourth phase research. The research programme includes a survey on existing bridges in the Netherlands to obtain information about the different detailing in the orthotropic deck plate and the fatigue behaviour of the details. Based on available research results, it appeared to be necessary to perform some full-scale fatigue tests on the longitudinal stiffener splice joint to improve the detail and to obtain information about repairing this detail. Fatigue design curves have been defined for the longitudinal stiffener splice joint as well as the longitunal stiffener to deck plate connection. For the latter, no additional experiments were needed. Experimental as well as numerical research on the longitudinal stiffener to crossbeam connection has been carried out to improve the knowledge of the different types of detail.