Fatigue Life Prediction Studies for Existing Railway Bridges

In this study, a riveted steel bridge which gave service on Ankara-Istanbul main rail corridor between 1912 and 1976 was considered in a full scale fatigue test program to produce the test data needed for estimation of remaining fatigue life of the other similar railway bridges still servicing on the Turkish Railway network. Since some railway cars such as freight cars induce stress range which are below the constant amplitude fatigue limit for both category C and especially D, and therefore do not contribute toward cumulative damage of bridge members, it is important to estimate the constant amplitude fatigue limit clearly. Full scale fatigue tests were conducted on stringers removed from the bridge. However, in order to eliminate the uncertainty at constant amplitude fatigue limit level, it is necessary to perform the long-life testing of full scale bridge members.