Biographie
Abstract
Due to the revision of the Eurocode, two research projects funded by AiF-DASt-FOSTA reinvestigate the detail categories of EN 1993-1-9.
Among others, investigations on the influence of weld imperfections on the fatigue strength of typical steel construction details are presented. For this purpose, own fatigue tests were carried out on cruciform joints and transverse stiffeners with internal and external imperfections. Numerical simulations based on these tests show that dependencies of the fatigue strength on sizes of different weld imperfections can be derived quantitatively.
Furthermore, the influence of geometry is investigated for 2 specific details: the plate thickness on butt welds and the length and end geometry of longitudinal attachments. The results of a meta-study based on tests of various research projects and own tests on butt welds up to 80 mm will be presented. In contrast, previous meta-studies could not provide a clear result on the influence of the attachment length and whether the transition radius of the ends larger than 150 mm or only the ground flush of the reinforcement improves the fatigue resistance. Additional tests and evaluation will try to give an answer.
A database established in the projects allows to integrate and assess the specified details in the context of the overall approach in EN 1993-1-9 to enable an efficient design, in which the fatigue strength is estimated as accurately as possible.
