SECTION 5 FATIGUE ANALYSIS

The causes of fatigue cracks of steel bridges:

Welding defects were included at the time of fabrication. An inappropriate structural detail of low fatigue strength (such as Detail Category E, E and D). Stresses and deformations unforeseen in design occurred at connection of members. The structure behaved in a manner not expected, such as due to vibration.

There are two approaches to repairing and reinforcing:

To remove the cause of fatigue damage or to alleviate it. To increase the fatigue strength of the detail concerned. 1

Typical Fatigue Cracks

At end of cover plate

Typical Fatigue Cracks

At the connection/gusset plate

At the copping

Simplified Approach of Predicting Remaining Fatigue Life (AASHTO)

Determine Detail Category (AASHTO table) Calculate the stress range (under HS-20 loading) Use AASHTO Stress-Number (S-N) curve to determine total number of loading cycle the structure can carry. Use past ADTT to calculate how many loading cycles the structure has experienced in the past, and how many remaining loading cycles is left. Use future ADTT prediction to determine the remaining fatigue life.

Shortcomings of the Simplified Approach

Does not consider variations of live loads. Does not consider the effect of deformation/ distortion. Does not consider stress concentration (due to cracks, etc.) it is somehow reflected in the Detail Category. Can not be used for low-cycle fatigue - materials may be in plastic range at stress concentration area.

Refined Approaches
Stress-Life Approach Linear-Elastic Fracture Mechanics Approach. Strain-Life Approach (only appropriate for low cycle fatigue, which is not applicable to existing bridges)

Stress-Life Method
The stress-life method uses the alternating stress amplitude to predict the number of cycles to failure (Similar to AASHTO Simplified Method). This method is based on comparing the stress amplitude to a stress versus fatigue life curve (S-N diagram). The S-N curves are based on empirical formulas derived from experimental data. The stress-life method is generally only used for high cycle fatigue, because under low cycle fatigue the stressstrain relationship becomes nonlinear (Stain-Life method applies).

Stress-Life Method
For many metals (including steel) there exists a region of infinite life, where fatigue problems will not develop if the stress amplitude is below a threshold value. This threshold value is called the endurance limit (Se) (Shigley and Mischke 1989). In many materials, the endurance limit has been related to the ultimate tensile strength (SU) through experimental testing. The ideal endurance limit (Se ) for steels with an ultimate tensile strength less than 200 ksi is roughly 0.5 SU (Shigley and Mischke 1989). The ideal endurance limit is calculated in a laboratory under carefully controlled conditions. The ideal endurance limit is then related to the actual endurance limit by applying factors that account for differences in surface finish and treatments, size, temperature, loading, and other environment factors (Bannantine and Comer 1990).
Ce = CSF CS CL CT 0.504 SU
Where:

CSF = 14.4 SU - 0.718 CS =(t/0.3) -0.1133 CL = 0.96 CT = 1

Surface Finish - hot rolled material thickness (inch) Loading -(bending and axial) Temperature -(normal) 8

Stress-Life Method
For the cases where the stress mean is not zero, an equivalent stress amplitude (S) must be calculated from the mean stress ( m) and the stress amplitude ( a). There are two relationships that tend to bracket the test data. They are the Goodman and Gerber relationships. The equations are shown below. The Goodman relationship is the more conservative of the two and is often used for that reason (Bannantine and Comer 1990).

S= S=

a/(1-

m/Su)

Goodman Relationship Gerber Relationship

a/(1-

2 m/Su)

Stress-Life Method
The endurance limit is based on a constant amplitude alternating stress. There are many instances where the stress amplitude is variable. In these cases, a method for calculating cumulative damage is used to find an effective alternating stress. A root mean cubed method is often used to estimate cumulative damage (Moses, et al. 1987). The individual stress range values are first cubed, an average is taken, and then the cube root of the average is determined. The result is an effective stress range value that is larger than the value obtained from the arithmetic average, because cubing the stress range values increases the emphasis on the large values in the distribution. If the alternating stress is not fully reversed, an equivalent stress amplitude is then calculated using either the Goodman or Gerber relationship. When amplitude fall above the fatigue limit, the structure will have a finite fatigue life. The total fatigue life can be calculated as following:

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Stress-Life Method
One method of calculating the finite life for variable amplitude alternating stress is to extend the S-N curve beyond the constant amplitude fatigue limit (Moses, et al. 1987). The slope of the extension can be adjusted to reflect the distribution of cycles above the constant amplitude fatigue limit. The stress-life method is completely empirical in nature and is limited only to cases of high cycle fatigue. It has, however, been employed for many years, and there is a considerable body of experimental evidence that has been used to derive the empirical solutions.

N = 10-c/b S1/b
Where: b = 1/3log(0.9Su/Se) c = 1/3log((0.9Su)2/Se)

N is the number of cycles, and S is the alternating stress amplitude.

Based on the calculated N, one can estimate the structures remaining fatigue life.
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Linear-Elastic Fracture Mechanics

Linear-elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) is an analytical method that relates the stress at a crack tip to the nominal stress field around the crack. LEFM began with Griffiths work in the 1920s. Griffith proposed a crack will propagate in brittle materials if the total energy of the system is reduced by the propagation. In the 1940s, progress continued with Irwins work with ductile material theory. Irwin reported that the energy applied to plastic deformation must be added to the surface energy associated with the new crack surface. In the 1950s Irwin also developed equations for the local stresses near the crack tip (Bannantine and Comer 1990). There are three modes describing crack displacement: Mode I, opening or tensile mode; Mode II, sliding or in-plane shear; and Mode III, tearing or anti-plane shear. The following figure shows a schematic representation of each of these three modes. For most structures Mode I is the dominant condition.

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Linear-Elastic Fracture Mechanics

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Linear-Elastic Fracture Mechanics

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Linear-Elastic Fracture Mechanics

Example: Parameters used for calculating fatigue life for a clip angle connection

Where: t is the thickness at the location of peak stress, and a is the crack length. 15

Strain-Life Method
The strain-life method uses true strain to predict the number of cycles to failure. When components are under high load and/or have critical locations (notches), the stress-strain relationship is no longer linearly related. In these situations the plastic strain becomes a significant part of the deformation. Since the primary mechanism in fatigue is plastic deformation, an elastic model is not appropriate. The strain-life method uses the level of deformation explicitly, and it is more appropriate for cases with high plastic deformation. These types of cases fall into the low cycle (< 1000) fatigue category. The strain-life method compares the true strain range to a strain versus fatigue life curve. One weakness of this method is that finding true strain in areas of discontinuities can be very difficult. More experimental data are needed to account for surface finish, surface treatment, loading, and other modifying parameters. This method is not applicable to bridge structures (which typically have low-stress and high-cycle fatigue cracks).
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FATIGUE CRACKS TREATMENTS

Typical rehab measurements for fatigue cracks: 1. Replace the damaged members. 2. Drilling a hole at the end of the crack (ineffective). 3. Provide alternate stress path, and make the damaged members redundant. (If a weld splice
cracked, a bolted splice may be used to make original weld splice redundant)

4. If at fatigue early stage, try to reduce the stress level or stress concentration, and monitor the crack development (such as to make deck/girder composite). 5. For distortion induced fatigue cracks, provide restriction to reduce deformation. 17

Repairs of Crack at End of Cover Plate

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Make Cracked (or Defect) Welds Redundant

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Repair of Crack near Gusset Plate

Two of the holes for bolts have been drilled at the ends of a crack and serve as stop holes. Stresses near the gusset end can be significantly reduced .

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Cracks at Sole Plate End

Beam theory is normally employed in designing a bridge, but when sizes of girders and locations of supporting points are considered, the stresses occurring near support points differ considerably from those obtained by beam theory. Consequently, the regions around of supporting points are susceptible to fatigue damage (especially when free rotation is restricted). 21

Crack Repairs at Web

Some fatigue cracks are due to vibration/distortion. Bolt a angle to connect stiffener to the web, and/or bolt a Tee section on the other side of the web to reinforce the cracked web (as shown on left). For small cracks, using one to three passes of fillet welding on top of the crack, followed by TIG dressing. See the photo below:

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Reinforce Fatigue Cracks at End of Cover Plate

Bridge girder with a cover plate

Apply a layer of composite materials through Chopped-Fiber Spray Lamination or regular CFRP layers. 23