Technology Digests / Fundamental Behavior of a Riveted, Built-up Deck Plate Girder

TD22-003

April 1, 2022
Authors
  • Anna Rakoczy
  • Chris Johnson
  • David Linkowski
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Key Findings

  • Stress increases toward the edge of open holes, with the concentration around the edge being three times larger than stresses at one diameter away from the edge of the hole.
  • The measured strains around riveted connections were different from the measured strains around open holes. The strains around riveted connections were similar to those more than one diameter away from the edge of the hole.
  • Measured strains around high-strength bolted connections were comparable to those around an open hole.
  • A better understanding of the stresses and strains near the rivet can improve the accuracy of fatigue estimations.

Fundamental Behavior of a Riveted, Built-up Deck Plate Girder

In the North American railroad structure inventory, the fitness-for-service of aging railway bridges presents an important issue for bridge owners. Over the last two years, researchers at MxV Rail (formerly TTCI) undertook laboratory testing of a full-scale, riveted deck plate girder (DPG) under static load. This test, part of the Association of American Railroads’ (AAR) Strategic Research Initiatives program, investigated the strain and stress distribution around open holes and fasteners in the tension flange. Riveted steel DPG spans are the most common of all steel railroad bridge spans. There are approximately 14,000 DPG spans in revenue service in North America. Roughly half of these spans exceed 100 years in service; however, despite the length of time in service for these DPG spans, many bridges show no sign of distress and continue to be used in revenue service without issue. For these older structures, hot riveting was the predominant method of…