ABSTRACT
When the old riveted railway bridge over the Vindelälven at Vännäsby was replaced by the railway authorities in 1993 it was decided to take the opportunity to carry out an extensive full-scale fatigue testing programme of the stringers and floor beams of the bridge, a task that was given to the Department of Structural Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology. This bridge was one of the oldest riveted railway bridges that had been in service during the twentieth century, and at the beginning of the 1990s it was decided that it had reached the end of its technical life. By performing a full-scale fatigue test on the stringers from the bridge, it was possible to achieve several results that could help to answer questions about the true lifespan of this particular bridge and other similar bridges. Questions that would be answered include:
– What is the remaining fatigue life? – What is the fatigue damage accumulation? – What is the fatigue fracture behaviour? – Where are fractures located? – What are the implications for the structural design codes, which are generally are
based on fatigue tests performed on small riveted details? – Is there an agreement between actual fatigue lives and the predicted lifespan
according to a fatigue damage accumulation analysis? – Which are the fatigue critical joints and connections?
