Work

Fatigue Performance Analysis of Weathering Steel Bridge Decks Under Residual Stress Conditions

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The growing use of weathering steel in bridge engineering has highlighted the increasing impact of fatigue damage caused by the combined effects of welding residual stress and vehicular loading. This study investigates the fatigue performance of Q500qENH weathering steel bridge decks by proposing a coupled analysis method for residual stress and fatigue crack growth, utilizing collaborative simulations with Abaqus 2023 and Franc3D 7.0. An interaction model integrating welding-induced residual stress fields and dynamic vehicular loads is developed to systematically examine crack propagation patterns in critical regions, including the weld toes of the top plate and the weld seams of the U-ribs. The results indicate that the crack propagation rate at the top plate weld toe exhibits the most rapid progression, reaching the critical dimension (two-thirds of plate thickness) at 6.98 million cycles, establishing this location as the most vulnerable failure point. Residual stresses significantly amplify the stress amplitude under tension-compression cyclic loading, with life degradation effects showing 48.9% greater severity compared to pure tensile stress conditions. Furthermore, parametric analysis demonstrates that increasing the top plate thickness to 16 mm effectively retards crack propagation, while wheel load pressures exceeding 1.0 MPa induce nonlinear acceleration of life deterioration. Based on these findings, engineering countermeasures including welding defect control, optimized top plate thickness (≥16 mm), and wheel load pressure limitation (≤1.0 MPa) are proposed, providing theoretical support for fatigue-resistant design and maintenance of weathering steel bridge decks.

Source: Materials

DOI: 10.3390/ma18173943

Authors: Wenye Tian, Ran Li, Tao Lan, Ruixiang Gao, Maobei Li, Qinyuan Liu

Institution: Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology

Language: English

Topic: Fatigue and fracture mechanics

Subfield: Mechanics of Materials

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137