BridgeGuyShawn
Structural
- Aug 4, 2011
- 5
I am trying to come up with a fatigue classification for a welding detail I have come across on a bridge. The detail is fairly common for bridges of this age (built in 1950's) but nothing in the AASHTO table (6.6.1.2.3-1) looks quite right to me. The detail is this:
Built up riveted longitudinal girder with several flange cover plates. The cover plates are stitch welded, with 2-3 inch longitudinal welds at their edges, every foot or so.
The closest things I can see in AASHTO are parts 3.5 and 3.6 in the table, but my gut tells me it is somewhere in between a B and an E'. I think it is a worse scenario if the weld termination is at or near the end of the cover plate, but these are just along the edge. Since they do have random termination points though, I don't think part 3.4 would necessarily apply either.
I'm guessing this was done to help hold everything together and make it easier to drill/rivet during fabrication.
Does anyone know what category this would fall into?
Thanks!
Built up riveted longitudinal girder with several flange cover plates. The cover plates are stitch welded, with 2-3 inch longitudinal welds at their edges, every foot or so.
The closest things I can see in AASHTO are parts 3.5 and 3.6 in the table, but my gut tells me it is somewhere in between a B and an E'. I think it is a worse scenario if the weld termination is at or near the end of the cover plate, but these are just along the edge. Since they do have random termination points though, I don't think part 3.4 would necessarily apply either.
I'm guessing this was done to help hold everything together and make it easier to drill/rivet during fabrication.
Does anyone know what category this would fall into?
Thanks!
