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Effect of elastomeric bridge bearings on fatigue cracking of supporting steel members
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Seif, Amin Mujahed. Effect of elastomeric bridge bearings on fatigue cracking of supporting steel members. Retrieved from https://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-n0a3-fz06

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TitleEffect of elastomeric bridge bearings on fatigue cracking of supporting steel members
NameSeif, Amin Mujahed (author); Roy, Sougata (chair); Najm, Husam (member); Yong, Yook-Kong (member); Rutgers University; School of Graduate Studies
Date Created2022
Other Date2022-10 (degree)
SubjectCivil engineering, Bolts, Bridge, Cracking, Elastomeric bearings, Fatigue, Steel structure
Extent1 online resource (116 pages) : illustrations
DescriptionThis study investigated the root cause behind unique fatigue cracking in the upper flange of the floor beam of a bridge with steel superstructure and concrete deck, particularly at the bolt holes of the replacement elastomeric bearings under stringers, following a major deck rehabilitation. Such rehabilitation is common for extending service life of highway bridges. The replacement bearing assembly was restrained to the floor beam upper flange using high strength bolts that were specified to be pretensioned to 35 kips. The critical stresses in the floor beam upper flange and the bearing assembly under the stringer due to AASHTO HL-93 loading were determined by 3D FEA of a local model of the structure including a part of the stringer, the elastomeric bearing assembly under the stringer and part of a floor beam. The reinforced elastomeric bearing was modeled including the elastomer layers and the reinforcing steel shims. The elastomer material was modeled as incompressible and hyper elastic. Effect of bolt pretension was considered.

The analyses demonstrated that the main reason for the cracking of the floor beam upper flange and bolt fracture was pretensioning of the high strength bolts in the elastomeric bearing system. Deformation of the bearings under live load introduced bending and high cyclic stresses in the bolts that led to fatigue cracking from the root of the bolt threads. The large stress range in the bolts also introduced high stress ranges in the floor beam upper flange around the bolt holes, and at the end of the bearing stiffener-to-flange connection, leading to fatigue cracking. Among several retrofit options evaluated for mitigating the observed cracking, releasing the pretension of the elastomeric bearing bolts was found to be the most cost effective. The efficacy of this retrofit was further verified by investigating crack propagation under live load employing 3D FEA. Based on this research it is recommended that elastomeric bridge bearings and its assembly, while becoming increasingly popular in recent years, should be adequately detailed to prevent unintended consequences due to their interaction with the supporting steel members.
NoteM.S.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Genretheses
Persistent URLhttps://doi.org/doi:10.7282/t3-n0a3-fz06
LanguageEnglish
CollectionSchool of Graduate Studies Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.
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