It is worldwide known that orthotropic steel bridge structures can suffer severe fatigue damage. In most cases local cracks can be easily detected and be repaired in an early stage without direct effects on the safety of the whole bridge. Since 1997 in several heavily loaded highway bridges in the Netherlands, fatigue cracks were observed in the welded connection between the longitudinal trough stiffener web and the deck plate of the orthotropic bridge deck. Depending on the crack initiation point they could be found and repaired relatively easy. However in some cases cracks could only be found when they are already relatively large and their repair is difficult.
展开▼
