Systematic derivation of safety factors for the fatigue design of steel bridges

This paper presents a probabilistic framework to derive the safety factors for fatigue of steel and composite steel concrete road bridges. Engineering models are used for the design and the safety factor is derived in such a way that the design meets the target reliability set by international Eurocode and ISO standards, estimated using measured...

Added value of regular in-service visual inspection to the fatigue reliability of structural details in steel bridges

In order to design structural details of bridges for fatigue, the current version of the Eurocode for steel structures recommends partial factors for fatigue resistance based on the consequences of failure and on the maintenance method. The safe-life method is used for details where local formation of cracks could rapidly lead to failure or for...

Fatigue damage evaluation using S-N curves obtained by different data fitting methods

This paper investigates the differences in the predicted fatigue life of transverse butt weld joints and cover-plated beams considering statistically based fitting methods on fatigue test data and comparing the results with the S-N relation proposed in international standards. The test data fitting are performed by employing the Least Square...

Compatibility of S-N and crack growth curves in the fatigue reliability assessment of a welded steel joint. 2nd International Conference on Structural Integrity, ICSI 2017, 4-7 September 2017, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal

Reliability analysis is a crucial phase in assessing the safety status of new and existing structures. One of its applications is to predict the fatigue life of fatigue prone details. Two models are used to formulate the fatigue limit state: S-N curves in combination with Palmgren-Miner damage accumulation rule and linear elastic fracture...