Fatigue Tests for a Riveted Steel Railway Bridge in Salzburg

Abstract

Evaluation and assessment of the fatigue resistance of riveted bridges are important, because a lot of these bridges, which were built in the beginning of the 20th century, are still in service. These bridges are subjected now to much higher loads than those originally designed for. In order to establish fatigue categories for different riveted connections there is a need towards building a complete data base of experimental results for riveted built up sections. This research discusses the experimental results of testing six stringers demolished from bridges dated 1903 and 1914. The program is composed of testing four built up stringers of two different cross sections in fatigue. Moreover, two stringers were tested in cyclic static tests to evaluate the rivet clamping force and slip initiation respectively.