DYNA JOURNAL ENGINEERING

Key words:

heavy traffic, fatigue test, residual strain, fatigue damage, tráfico pesado, ensayo de fatiga, deformación residual, daño por fatiga

Article type:

ARTICULO DE INVESTIGACION / RESEARCH ARTICLE

Section:

RESEARCH ARTICLES

The structural performance of bridges eventually decreases, and risk in bridge operations increase, as well as the equivalent effect of vehicle loads, particularly heavy traffic. To further clarify the relationship between the residual performance of the bridge under heavy traffic and the fatigue damage, a batch of prestressed concrete fatigue test beams was designed. The equivalent fatigue load, considering the heavy load effect, was determined through investigation and statistics of actual traffic load data. The fatigue failure morphology and crack development of the test beam under the equivalent fatigue load were analyzed based on the fatigue damage principle. The constant amplitude fatigue test method was used to analyze the development law of concrete residual strain, non-prestressed tendon residual strain, and prestressed tendon residual strain. Based on the damage model theory, the damage equation between the damage variable D and the cumulative residual plastic strain ?p considering the effects of heavy traffic was found. In addition, through the test data, the fatigue damage evolution curve based on the development of residual strain was obtained. Research results show that the fatigue test failure is a bending failure of the non-prestressed tendon fatigue fracture. The fatigue life of the beam reduced drastically when the heavy load effect is considered. From the perspective of residual performance, the residual strain of concrete is a good indicator for calculating the fatigue damage index of beams. The research results provide an early warning of fatigue failure and performance evaluation.