Environmental Impact in Case of Fillet Welds Rehabilitation for Welded Bridges

In the case of welded bridges, the largest share from the welded joints categories used, are the fillet welds. These fillet welded joints depending on the geometry seam, are very sensitive to stress concentrators from the intersection between filler and base material. The variable loads to which the bridges are subject and the existence of the stress concentrators, cause fatigue phenomenon and appearance of the failures, below the the yield strength of the material. It is therefore necessary, in order to increase the lifetime of fatigue, after a certain number of load cycles bridges, over 106, some fillet weld joints must be rehabilitated by welding. The paper presents the steps of a process of rehabilitation by welding in case of cross welded joints, a process occurring substances and polluting products. With an original stand they were made determinations for the pollutants that occur during the reconditioning process by welding. They were calculated the ratio of pollution and it has been proposed some methods to prevent and reduce the environmental impact of this process. Experimental research undertaken and the results, lead to a substantial reduction in pollution caused by rehabilitation relative to fabrication a new joint.