Fatigue Strength of Riveted Connections

Abstract

New riveted steel structures have not been built in the past several decades. As a consequence, less attention has been paid to their fatigue life behavior than to structures containing contemporary fastening elements such as bolts or welds. The behavior of riveted members is a matter of considerable interest, however. For example, it is obvious that the life of the large stock of riveted bridges that still exist must be extended, at the same time maintaining a satisfactory level of safety. Evaluation of the remaining fatigue life of riveted structures has been impeded by the lack of a reasonable database of test results from full-size riveted members. Recent work in both North America and Europe has addressed the need for better fatigue life data for riveted members. The paper reports on the writers' research and that of others into the fatigue resistance of riveted members. The results of tests on full-size flexural members and on axially loaded members are reported, and these test results are compared with the design recommendations of several North American and European standards. Recommendations are presented for a fatigue life classification for assessment of riveted shear splices.