Remaining Fatigue Strength of an Orthotropic Steel Deck with Respect to a Repair Method by Cold Joining Techniques

Abstract The increased traffic loads of the last decades led to an overload of the existing infrastructure. Especially for orthotropic steel decks of bridges, which are prone to fatigue fractures, this have led to structural damages of different categories. With respect to category 2 damages and their retrofit, this paper presents results of fatigue tests on the nonwelded constructional details of an old, demolished orthotropic steel deck. The samples were extracted from a highway bridge with an orthotropic steel deck built in Germany in the 1970s. In comparative fatigue tests on identical constructional details made of new material with the same steel grade, the remaining fatigue strength was determined. Based on the problem of manganese sulfides in old steels the potential of the repair method by cold joining techniques was emphasized. Characteristic load‐bearing capacities for a Eurocode 3‐compliant design of a structural blind fastener were determined and their use in a pilot project was reported.