Assessment of Steel Bearing Structures - Estimation of the Remaining Fatigue Life

Abstract

A significant number of steel bridges exist in operation worldwide. The budget for new infrastructure projects is tight, so the importance of inspection, maintenance and assessment of the existing bridges increases. A new fatigue assessment guideline for the estimation of the remaining fatigue life of steel bridges should be developed soon. This paper presents (i) a discussion based on the state-of-the-art review and (ii) new possibilities of applications of probabilistic methods for the time dependent reliability assessment of the lifetime of steel bridges. The probabilistic fatigue assessment procedure can be applied to existing steel bridges under cyclic loading. The guideline concentrates on the existing traffic infrastructure made from old steel due to its public importance. The essential general methods for these calculations are provided using structural and fracture mechanics and the reliability theory used in a probabilistic framework.