Fatigue behavior and statistical evaluation of the stress category for a steel–concrete composite bridge deck

The maintenance cost of bridges is rapidly increasing since many existing bridges are deteriorating or reaching their design life all over the world. Moreover, as many long-span bridges are under construction and planning in Korea, research and development on bridge decks with high load-resistance capacity as well as high fatigue strength has become a growing concern. This research gives experimental results of the fatigue behavior of a new-type of steel–concrete composite bridge deck being developed under such circumstances. The proposed composite bridge deck consists of corrugated steel plate, welded steel ribs, stud shear connectors, and reinforced concrete filler. Fatigue tests were conducted under a four-point bending test with four different stress ranges in constant amplitude. In order to determine the influence of the concrete filling, fatigue tests on partial steel specimens containing only plain corrugated steel plates were performed in advance. The partial steel specimens and the steel–concrete composite deck specimens both showed fatigue failure in the tension part concerning the fillet welding part between the corrugated steel plate and steel rib. Finally, the stress category of the fillet welding part of each specimen is evaluated based on a statistical approach of Albrecht’s probability model. The research concludes that the fatigue behavior of such steel–concrete composite decks under sagging moment can be estimated based on the classical S–N approach, focusing on steel components.