The stiffness-degradation law of base metal after fatigue cracking in steel bridge deck

The stiffness evaluation of cracked base metal is of great guidance to fatigue crack reinforcement. By carrying out fatigue tests and numerical simulation of typical cracking details in steel box girder, the strain-degradation law of cracked base metal was analyzed and the relationship between base metal stress and its displacement (stiffness) was explored. The feasibility of evaluating the stress of cracked base metal based on the stress field at the crack tip was verified. The results demonstrate that the stiffness of cracked base metal shows the fast-to-slow degradation trend with fatigue cracking and the base metal at 50mm or more behind the crack tip basically lose its bearing capacity. Drilling will further accelerate stiffness degradation with the increase of hole diameters. The base metal stress has a negative linear relation with its displacement (stiffness), The stress of cracked base metal is also related to stress intensity factor and its relative position (distance, included angle) to the crack tip, through which the local stiffness can be effectively evaluated. Since the stiffness is not uniformly distributed along the cracked base metal, the reinforcement patch is suggested to be designed according to the stiffness to avoid excessive reinforcement for the areas incompletely unloaded.