Analytical Study of Fatigue Cracking in Coped Stringers of Steel Bridges

Typical coped stringers of streel bridges are prone to fatigue cracking as a result of the high concentration of tensile stress in the cope zone. This stress concentration is caused by a combination of geometric discontinuity at the cope radius and end-connection rigidity. Few retrofit methods are available for mitigating this cracking; they include hole drilling at a crack tip, and top-rivet removal from a stringer-floorbeam connection. Three-dimensional finite element models of a typical stringer with coped web were developed and analyzed to evaluate (i) cope geometry and load configuration parameters and (ii) the effectiveness of these two retrofit methods. The studied geometry parameters were cope radius and cope length. Variations in the cope-zone stress distribution for each parameter and between an original and a retrofitted condition are presented in this paper. Tensile stress reduction was associated with increased cope radius. Although hole drilling resulted in significant stress reduction along the cope edge, this method was associated with increased tensile stress at the bottom of the drilled hole, which could result in further crack propagation. This finding is consistent with existing studies. Removal of a top rivet resulted in significant reduction of tensile stress.