Repair of High Silicon Steel Railway Bridges

Abstract

<p>Structural steel has a varied history, with different types of steels used in construction. The majority of structural steels were of standard type but right from the start there was great interest in manufacturing higher strength steels. For a short period, high silicon structural steels were popular and the steels found applications in many riveted engineering structures. The first two railway bridges made from silicon steel were constructed in Germany and Switzerland. The paper presents repair works on two railway truss bridges constructed from high silicon steel in the early 1930s. Modernisation of the track system required some works to be carried out via welding. Material and tensile tests were undertaken to assess the possibility for welding to be used in joining the new components. Repair works were carried out by Polish Railways. The results of tests on the old silicon steels may be useful when strengthening similar riveted structures constructed from early high-strength steels.</p>