ABSTRACT
The aim of the research presented in this paper is to determine the influence of the way of conducting repair works of riveted joints in steel structures, where damaged or corroded rivets have to be replaced by bolts. The main research objective is to determine the bearing capacity of structures before and after reinforcement in order to create a basis for formulating the relevant conclusions concerning the safety of the structure in question.
The presented results define the influence of construction solutions that may be or are currently applied in practice, which, however, have not been confirmed yet by any model studies and computational analyses of the bearing capacity of hybrid, bolted and riveted joints. The tested elements were collected from railway bridge structures that were designated for demolition. The analysis of various arrangements of connectors in a joint was an important element of the conducted tests. According to current state of knowledge, the bearing capacity of a connector in an overlap joint, as far as bearing resistance is concerned, depends on its position in the joint. Due to that, the authors decided to test those joints, where marginal or intermediate rivets were replaced with bolts. The analysed topic is a valid issue and its scope is very wide, due to the fact that riveted steel structures that were manufactured on a mass scale more than a hundred years ago often require repairs in form of ongoing maintenance or modernisation of the structures. As riveted structures are common throughout the world, the problem applies to a multitude of objects. The conducted tests lead conclusions that partial replacement of the existing rivets with bolts has a real influence on the bearing capacity of joints in riveted structures. The degree of this influence depends on the position of the replaced connections with respect to the edge of the connected element. Nonprofessional repair works consisting in the replacement of existing, corroded rivets with new, unfitted bolts, may lead to excessive deflection of the structure. The aim of the conclusions of the paper is to provide guidelines concerning the possibility to apply hybrid, riveted and bolted joints in existing, often historic structures, where maintaining further safe operation often means preserving their cultural values, as these objects are an inseparable part of our cultural heritage.
