Fatigue Performance of Rib-to-Deck Double-Sided Weld Joint of Orthotropic Steel Deck on Plate Girder Railway Bridges

Abstract

This research work presents the stress behavior of rib-deck weld joints in Orthotropic Steel Deck (OSD) railway bridges. It is essential to determine the most vulnerable load mode of the wheels for fatigue failure of OSD bridges and to improve the fatigue resistance of the welded rib-deck connection. Fatigue performance largely depends on the weld stress. Double-sided welds for rib-deck welds improve fatigue performance. The fatigue behavior of the rib-deck double-sided weld joint has been compared with the single-sided one. This study used Abaqus software to create the global shell model and the solid submodel of the OSD. The results of the structural stress-based finite element analysis indicated that when the center line of the front axle pair of a locomotive coincides with the center line of the midspan of the bridge, the most severe loading condition occurs. The rib near the main girder experiences the maximum structural stress in the weld toe of the rib-deck joint. Moreover, the rib-deck double-sided weld joints have 43.7% less structural stress compared to single-sided weld joints at the root of the weld, and this improves the performance during fatigue of OSDs.