Development of a Fatigue Life Assessment Model for Pairing Fatigue Damage Prognoses with Bridge Management Systems
Development of a Fatigue Life Assessment Model for Pairing Fatigue Damage Prognoses with Bridge Management Systems
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Date
2018-12-18
Authors
Saad, Timothy
Fu, Chung C.
Zhao, Gengwen
Xu, Chaoran
Advisor
Citation
Timothy Saad, Chung C. Fu, Gengwen Zhao and Chaoran Xu (December 18th 2018). Development of a Fatigue Life Assessment Model for Pairing Fatigue Damage Prognoses with Bridge Management Systems [Online First], IntechOpen, DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.82050. Available from: https://www.intechopen.com/online-first/development-of-a-fatigue-life-assessment-model-for-pairing-fatigue-damage-prognoses-with-bridge-mana
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Abstract
Fatigue damage is one of the primary safety concerns for steel bridges reaching
the end of their design life. Currently, US federal requirements mandate regular
inspection of steel bridges for fatigue cracks; however, these inspections rely on
visual inspection, which is subjective to the inspector’s physically inherent limitations.
Structural health monitoring (SHM) can be implemented on bridges to
collect data between inspection intervals and gather supplementary information
on the bridges’ response to loads. Combining SHM with finite element analyses,
this paper integrates two analysis methods to assess fatigue damage in the crack
initiation and crack propagation periods of fatigue life. The crack initiation period
is evaluated using S-N curves, a process that is currently used by the FHWA and
AASHTO to assess fatigue damage. The crack propagation period is evaluated
with linear elastic fracture mechanic-based finite element models, which have
been widely used to predict steady-state crack growth behavior. Ultimately, the
presented approach will determine the fatigue damage prognoses of steel bridge
elements and damage prognoses are integrated with current condition state classifications
used in bridge management systems. A case study is presented to demonstrate
how this approach can be used to assess fatigue damage on an existing steel
bridge.
Notes
Partial funding for Open Access provided by the UMD Libraries' Open Access Publishing Fund.