This paper reviews the results of a comprehensive investigation including more than 100 fatigue damage cases, reported for steel and composite bridges. The damage cases are categorized according to types of detail. The mechanisms behind fatigue damage in each category are identified and studied. It was found that more than 90% of all reported damage cases are of deformation-induced type and generated by some kind of unintentional or otherwise overlooked interaction between different load-carrying members or systems in the bridge. Poor detailing, with unstiffened gaps and abrupt changes in stiffness at the connections between different members were also found to contribute to fatigue cracking in many details

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This paper investigates the effects of environmental ageing on the mechanical response of adhesively bonded double-lap shear joints made of steel and CFRP or GFRP adherents. One hundred and ninety-two specimens, 84 joints and 108 material coupons, were aged for up to three years in various environments including (i) immersion in distilled water at 20 C and 45 C, (ii) immersion in de-icing salt solution at 20 C and 45 C and (iii) exposure to 95% relative humidity at 45 C. In general, immersion at 45 C resulted in noticeably greater strength reductions at both material and joint level. While the strength and stiffness of the joints made of GFRP material underwent significant reductions, the CFRP/steel joints were affected to a considerably smaller degree. FE simulations showed the impact of the permeability of FRP adherents and moisture distribution at the FRP/adhesive interface on the integrity and strength of the joints. The joint-level results are compared with the most relevant durability data in the literature.

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As the use of fibre reinforced polymer materials in bridge construction is becoming more popular, appropriate joining techniques, particularly for field joints, are necessary. Bolted joints are a common method for joining fibre reinforced polymer structures. The main advantage of bolted joints is their detachability, but they have a number of shortcomings. On the one hand, hole clearances, which are needed to facilitate on-site assembly, reduce the stiffness and joint efficiency. On the other hand, it is not possible to rely on the beneficial effects of bolt pre-defined tension loads, i.e. load transfer in friction, due to the considerable losses of bolt tension caused by the creep deformation in the composite material. To tackle these problems, a solution utilising metallic inserts in the hole is proposed in this paper. A series of experimental tests have been conducted to investigate the effect of inserts on the bolt-tension relaxation, the stiffness and the load-bearing behaviour of joints. Finite element analyses were also employed. The study demonstrates several benefits of the inserts: the bolt tension relaxation is minimised, the load transfer by friction may be feasible to be utilised in the bridge service state and the joint efficiency is increased in terms of stiffness and strength.