ABSTRACT

For the fatigue design of steel structures made of hollow sections only limited information is available. Especially for joints made of thick-walled sections and for fatigue details in structures made of high strength steels, recommendations are missing which allow for an easy and efficient fatigue design. Several research projects were started during the last years to form a basis for extending these rules having the main focus on onshore applications. But not only the fatigue behavior of isolated joints needs to be studied in more detail, also end-to-end connections as they are needed e.g. in bridge girders and attachments welded to sections are of interest. A short summary of the research on fatigue in recent years carried out at Karlsruhe and at other places is presented here.