Quality and Fatigue Assessment of Welded Railway Bridge Components by Testing

During a decades-long program from 1953 to 1990, the quality of welded joints in railway bridges in Poland was assessed and quantified. It was discovered that many welded joints have technological cracks, and their quality is poor, especially in old constructions. Nearly, 200 bridges were tested using X-ray examination. The number of joints tested was over 15,000; cracks were discovered in 400 welded joints in the 34 bridges tested. To solve the problem, repeated examinations on welded joints with imperfections were undertaken and laboratory fatigue tests were performed. The tests and numerical analysis allowed fatigue behavior and tensile stresses in welded butt splices with cover plates to be recognized and excluded such a structural solution in bridges. The existing discontinuities and imperfections in welded joints following many years in service show no growths or forming of new cracks, as the applied stresses are below the threshold fatigue strength. As a result of decades of service, steel bridges undergo functional aging, and their structural steels undergo structural aging. There is a need to both harmonize differentiated procedures and create national recommendations to assess their safe endurance. Therefore, of use may be the findings presented in the chapter