Experimental studies of fatigue crack initiation and propagation in slender plate girder webs, induced by plate breathing, and of the residual shear strength of fatigue cracked web panels, are described. The test results indicate that girders subjected to shear loads in excess of the elastic critical shear load posses little remaining fatigue life after crack initiation. A simple analytical model for predicting the residual shear strengths of fatigue cracked web panels, based on an assumed equilibrium stress field, is presented and shows reasonable correlation with the test results.
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