FATIGUE BEHAVIOR OF WELDED THIN WEB GIRDERS AS INFLUENCED BY WEB DISTORTION AND BOUNDARY RIGIDITY

INVESTIGATION WAS CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE THE INFLUENCE OF INITIAL WEB DISTORTION ON THE FATIGUE BEHAVIOR OF THIN WEB GIRDERS AND TO DETERMINE THE DISTRIBUTION OF STRESSES ALONG THE PANEL BOUNDARIES. PLATE GIRDERS WITH AND WITHOUT LONGITUDINAL STIFFENERS WERE TESTED IN ORDER TO DETERMINE THE INFLUENCE OF LONGITUDINAL STIFFENERS ON FATIGUE BEHAVIOR. SEVERAL PARAMETERS WERE CHOSEN IN ORDER TO STUDY THEIR EFFECTS ON GIRDER BEHAVIOR. FLANGE RIGIDITY AND TRANSVERSE STIFFENER RIGIDITY WERE PARAMETERS USED IN EARLIER TESTS ON GIRDERS SUBJECTED TO FATIGUE LOADINGS. SIX MODEL GIRDERS WERE FABRICATED WITH SMALL INITIAL WEB DISTORTIONS IN ORDER TO DETERMINE ANY INFLUENCE OF WEB DISTORTION AS COMPARED TO SIMILAR GIRDERS IN THE PREVIOUS INVESTIGATION. FOUR OF THE GIRDERS HAD VARYING FLANGE RIGIDITIES, TWO OF WHICH WERE SUBJECTED TO A LARGE SHEARING FORCE IN CONJUNCTION WITH A SMALL BENDING MOMENT AND THE OTHER TWO GIRDERS WERE SUBJECTED TO COMBINED SHEAR AND BENDING. FLANGE RIGIDITIES CHOSEN WERE APPROXIMATELY EQUAL TO THE EXTREME VALUES IN THE PREVIOUS TESTS. TWO GIRDERS WERE TESTED HAVING TRANSVERSE STIFFENERS WITH INTERMEDIATE AND LARGE RIGIDITY VALUES. FOUR ADDITIONAL GIRDERS WERE TESTED HAVING A LONGITUDINAL STIFFENER LOCATED AT THE UPPER FIFTH POINT OF THE WEB. TWO OF THESE GIRDERS HAD A VIARATION IN FLANGE RIGIDITY AND TWO CONTAINED TRANSVERSE STIFFENERS OF RIGIDITIES SIMILAR TO THE GIRDERS WITHOUT LONGITUDINAL STIFFENERS. ALL LONGITUDINALLY STIFFENED GIRDERS WERE SUBJECTED TO COMBINED SHEAR AND BENDING. MASSONNET'S OPTIMUM RIGIDITY WAS USED AS THE BASIS FOR THE DESIGN OF THE LONGITUDINAL STIFFENER SIZE. FATIGUE TESTS WERE PERFORMED WITH ALL TEN GIRDERS. UPON COMPLETION OF THE FATIGUE TESTS, THE GIRDERS WERE INSTRUMENTED WITH ELECTRICAL WIRE RESISTANCE STRAIN GAGES AND STRAIN MEASUREMENTS WERE MADE DURING STATIC TESTS TO FAILURE OF THE GIRDER TEST SECTION. ONE GIRDER, LONGITUDINALLY STIFFENED WITH THE LARGEST TRANSVERSE STIFFENER RIGIDITY, DEVELOPED A FATIGUE CRACK IN THE TENSION FLANGE IN THE REGION OF THE FLANGE CONNECTION AND WAS UNSUITABLE FOR STATIC TESTING. THE RESULTS OBTAINED FROM THESE TESTS WERE ANALYZED AND COMPARED WITH THE RESULTS OBTAINED FROM NINETEEN SIMILAR TESTS PERFORMED IN A PREVIOUS INVESTIGATION. /AUTHOR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Pr Adm, Bpr-CPR 11-4204
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

  Urbana, IL  United States  61801

  Bureau of Public Roads /US

  400 7th Street, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Goodpasture, D W
  • STALLMEYER, J E
• Publication Date: 1967-8

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bending moments; Deformation curve; Distortion (Structures); Fatigue (Physiological condition); Fatigue tests; Flanges; Longitudinal stiffeners; Plate girders; Shear stress; Static tests; Stiffness; Strain gages; Strain measurement; Transverse stiffeners; Webbing; Weldments
• Uncontrolled Terms: Model tests; Shear forces
• Old TRIS Terms: Distortion (Structural)
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00207894
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Bureau of Public Roads /US
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 5 1994 12:00AM