Versuche zur Ermüdungsfestigkeit alter Betonstähle

Fatigue Tests with Old Reinforcing Steels

Recently, fatigue safety has become an issue with respect to surveying the condition of existing structures, in particular bridges. While questions considering traffic loads and frequencies dominate the calculations of the appropriate load scenarios, the accuracy of the structural model and material properties play a vital role for the calculation of the resistance. This article deals with the latter. The most important parameter on the resistance side is the fatigue strength of the reinforcement. Therefore, fatigue strength of four brands of reinforcing steel was determined in fatigue tests. Two brands of reinforcement bars could be gathered during demolition work of two bridges which were built in the 1950ies. Another two brands of new reinforcing steel B 500 B, a rod-steel and a steel from the roll, were tested. The aim of the tests was to prove whether age and environment of the built-in reinforcement bars affect their fatigue resistance or not. The article briefly describes the difficulties with verifying the fatigue safety of existing bridges while the main part deals with the experimental work and the discussion of the test results.