Bridge Engineering Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers

Bridge Engineering 167 September 2014 Issue BE3

Volume 167 Issue BE3 Pages 193–201 http://dx.doi.org/10.1680/bren.13.00016
Management of fatigue cracking: West Paper 1300016
Received 11/06/2013 Accepted 06/06/2014
Gate Bridge, Melbourne Published online 28/07/2014
Silla-Sanchez and Noonan Keywords: bridges/fatigue/maintenance & inspection

ice | proceedings ICE Publishing: All rights reserved

Management of fatigue cracking:

West Gate Bridge, Melbourne
Javier Silla-Sanchez MRes, PhD John Noonan MEngSc, FIEAust
Team Leader, Steel Bridge Management, VicRoads, Melbourne, Australia Structural Consultant, VicRoads, Melbourne, Australia

Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge has recently been the subject of a major, award-winning strengthening project
designed to increase load capacity and reduce maintenance requirements. This paper addresses the management of
existing and potential fatigue cracking on the steel spans of the bridge. Recent growth in average vehicle weight and
traffic volumes has continued to give rise to fatigue cracking, something the bridge has suffered from since soon after
it was opened, particularly in areas directly subject to wheel and axle loads. The paper summarises the work being
undertaken on the fatigue-prone areas and focuses on crack monitoring and behaviour. It also describes the fatigue
management task, treatment details, constructability issues and the strategy for prioritising the treatment works.

1. Introduction The bridge carries approximately 180 000 vehicles per day, with
nearly 15% of these being commercial vehicles, a substantial
1.1 General increase on the 40 000 vehicles per day when it was first opened
The West Gate Bridge (WGB) was first opened to traffic in to traffic in 1978.
1978 and is a critical element in Melbourne’s road network. It
provides the only major crossing of the lower section of the Tragically, a portion of the bridge collapsed in 1970, during
Yarra River that connects the Melbourne central business construction, with the loss of 35 lives. That incident remains
district with the rapidly developing western suburbs. Australia’s worst ever industrial accident. Following the col-
lapse, the WGB was redesigned to take account of contempor-
The bridge is 2?5 km long and is made up of three different ary research, current international best practice, traffic loading
structural types along its length levels relevant at the time and the findings of the UK-based
Merrison Committee, which was formed following the collapse
& composite steel beam and concrete deck minor spans of the Milford Haven Bridge.
& prestressed concrete box girder viaducts
& cable-stayed steel box girder spans with orthotropic steel Since the bridge was first opened, traffic has continued to grow
deck that spans the Yarra River. steadily in both vehicle numbers and size. In particular, the
legal weight of commercial vehicles using the bridge has more
This paper is concerned with the management of fatigue than doubled, and their typical configuration has moved from
cracking in the superstructure of the five central cable-stayed predominantly shorter, rigid axle trucks to longer and heavier
steel box girder spans. The box girder comprises three cells and articulated vehicles. While the strengthening project has been
is made up of a series of stiffened plates with props at regular driven by the increasing load capacity demands on the bridge,
intervals along the outside of the box girder supporting the the maintenance task for the bridge has also grown substan-
outer edge of the cantilevered deck. tially, particularly that concerned with the management of
existing and potential fatigue cracking on the steel spans.
The bridge was originally designed and constructed with four
lanes, and following a major strengthening project was 1.2 Steel bridge description
increased to five lanes in June 2011. This project has earned, The steel spans of the bridge comprise five spans between piers
for those involved, the 2012 British Construction Industry 10 and 15 and form a cable-stayed structure with spans of
Award as well as other international awards. 112 m, 144 m, 336 m, 144 m and 112 m. These spans are
stayed by cables supported from two steel towers rising
Figure 1 shows a general view of the western half of the bridge. approximately 46 m above the roadway, which is itself a
Figure 2 shows the general arrangement of the WGB and a maximum of 58?6 m above the Yarra River. The typical cross-
typical cross-section of the steel spans. section is made up of three cells with two vertical inner webs

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Following the 1970 collapse, the additional strengthening

introduced was generally longitudinal angles welded to the box
walls between the existing bulb flats. There were a number of
other changes to the design following the 1970 collapse, and
some of these have had significant implications for the amount
of fatigue cracking. The original design of the bridge included a
composite concrete deck over the whole of the steel bridge deck
area connected to the deck plate by means of stud shear
connectors. With the 1970s redesign the composite concrete
deck was done away with and it was replaced with an
orthotropic steel deck employing trough stiffeners. Although
Figure 1. General view of the western side of the West Gate this change simplified the construction sequence it has had a
Bridge major influence over the amount of fatigue cracking that has
occurred since its opening. Another feature of the redesign
was that the vertical stiffeners on the inner and outer webs
and two inclined outer webs. The box girder is 4 m deep, the and diaphragms were extended up to and connected to the
top flange width is 25?5 m and the bottom flange width is underside of the deck, owing, presumably, to concern about
19 m. The deck panels are supported by cantilevers and cross- lateral restraint at the top end of these stiffeners.
beams at 3?2 m centres and these cantilevers and cross-beams
then frame into vertical web stiffeners to make up complete The 2011 strengthening commonly involved bolting additional
ring frames. There are intermediate diaphragms at 16 m longitudinal stiffeners to the existing longitudinal and trans-
centres. The props supporting the cantilevers beyond the box verse stiffeners to form a ‘splint’ and provide restraint against
girder outer web were installed as part of the 2011 strengthen- lateral torsional buckling of the existing stiffeners.
ing work to provide for the fifth lane. Except for the deck plate,
the connection between adjacent panels and the transverse 2. Description of fatigue cracking
splices between adjacent box cells was made using high- Fatigue cracking is a common feature of steel bridges of this
strength friction grip bolts. The splices between panels of the type and age. It occurs in locations that experience a large
deck plate are butt welded. number of loading cycles (Wolchuk, 1990), particularly areas
that are subject to the immediate effect of wheel and axle loads,
In the original design, the steel plates that make up the box and is managed as part of the ongoing maintenance of such
and the diaphragms were generally stiffened with bulb flats. bridges. Although fatigue cracking has been a feature of the

Span 9 Span 10 Span 15 Span 16

Span 7 Span 8 Span 17 Span 18
Span 5 Span 6 Span 19 Span 20
Span 3 Span 4 Span 21 Span 22 Span 23 Span 24 Span 25
Pier 2 Pier 3 Pier 4 Pier 5 Pier 6 Pier 7 Pier 8 Pier 9
HydePier 10 Pier 11 Pier 12 Lorimer Pier 13 Pier 14 Pier 15 Pier 16 Pier 17 Pier 18 Pier 19 Pier 20 Pier 21 Pier 22 Pier 23 Pier 24 Pier 25 Pier 26Span 26Pier 27 Span 27 Todd
Street Yarra River Street Road

652 m 848 m 853 m

West concrete box girder section Steel box girder section East concrete box girder section

CL
Bridge
Lane 1 Lane 2 Lane 3 Lane 4 Lane 5 Lane 5 Lane 4 Lane 3 Lane 2 Lane 1
500 3200 3200 3200 3200 3200 300 300 3200 3200 3200 3200 3200 500

Carriageway arrangement
Not to scale

Figure 2. General arrangement of the West Gate Bridge and cross-

section of steel box girder spans

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WGB throughout most of its service life, it has been cross-beams supporting the bottom flange. At the point
exacerbated by the growth in average vehicle weight and where vertical web stiffeners meet and are connected to the
traffic volumes in recent years (Burkitt et al., 1992; Grundy deck cross-beams, there is commonly a complex system of
et al., 1994; Polymenakos et al., 2012). stress transfer with diagonal tensile stresses that result in
stress concentrations at the cross-beam web to flange welds
The majority of the fatigue cracking falls into two groups. as well as at the welds between cross-beam flanges and the
top of the vertical inner web stiffeners. Figure 4 shows the
& Areas where connections directly to the underside of the detail where the vertical inner web stiffener meets the deck
deck plate lead to localised stress concentrations under the cross-beam.
effect of wheel loads on the deck. The box girder cross-
section comprises three cells and includes two outer webs In recent years there has been an increase in the number of
and two inner webs. Along their length vertical stiffeners on typical locations where fatigue cracking has been observed as
the inner and outer webs terminate at and are welded to the well as the number of cracks at each typical location. This
underside of the deck plate. In addition, there are similar increase reflects the cumulative effect, with the passage of time,
details at the top of vertical stiffeners on the diaphragms. of cyclic dynamic traffic loading. The nature of fatigue
Figure 3 shows an example of a vertical outer web stiffener cracking is such that it is difficult to predict accurately when
welded to the deck plate and the location of a typical crack and where cracks will initiate and the rate of propagation once
and how the defect is treated. The crack is initiated where a crack has formed. Although analytical methods can assist in
the fillet weld is returned around the end of the stiffener defining where to look for fatigue cracking, the maintenance
outstand. It is important to note that the majority of details task is generally one of planned, targeted inspections and
incorporating a vertical stiffener or gusset welded to the reactive intervention once cracks appear.
underside of the deck plate in this way are showing evidence
of such cracking. Figure 5 shows a cross-section of the steel box girder indicating
It is of interest to note that there is a substantially higher the location of the fatigue-prone locations. This diagram is
incidence and extent of such cracking at the east end of provided not so much to show the detail of the fatigue-prone
the south carriageway and the west end of the north locations as to convey a general impression of the distribution
carriageway on the steel bridge. The most likely explanation of the fatigue-prone locations around the box girder section.
appears to be that trucks are tending to impose higher The numbering system shown in the bubbles is that used to
impact forces and hence elevated wheel loads on the steel classify and manage the cracks. Virtually all of the cracking is
deck just after they pass over the expansion joint because of due to secondary effects rather than the result of fluctuating
local discontinuities in the vertical profile of the bridge stresses directly related to the essential load-carrying function
deck. of the structural members.
& Areas where cracking has resulted from induced strains
associated with flexure of deck support framing due to Currently, 26 typical detail types are listed as being fatigue
wheel and axle loads. The typical bridge cross-section prone. The decisions to include particular detail types in the list
includes circumferential framing that comprises cross- has been based on identified cracks in the WGB, observed
girders supporting the deck, vertical web stiffeners and cracks in similar bridges around the world, predictive analysis

Figure 3. Top end of vertical outer web stiffener welded to

underside of deck plate and its proactive treatment

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and the findings from detailed finite-element analysis (FEA) of

areas where fatigue cracks have been observed. The recently
completed strengthening works were carefully detailed to
ensure the existing fatigue life of the locations was not
shortened, and in some cases new strengthening details, for
example the cantilever props, substantially reduced live load
fluctuating stresses and thereby extended the anticipated
Cross-beam fatigue life of some details. However, the increase in volume
and vehicle weight of traffic on the bridge will inevitably
continue to cause an increase in fatigue damage into the future
and new crack-prone details will probably be identified.

As noted above, the cracking is typically the result of cyclic

Inner web strains induced by secondary effects, and does not reduce the
Crack location capacity of an essential load-carrying member or connection.
The need for a repair usually arises from a concern that if the
crack were left to propagate it could extend into a main load-
carrying member or connection.

Although there has been regular monitoring of the connection

between the trough and the deck plate there have been virtually
Figure 4. Junction between inner web vertical stiffener and deck no confirmed cases of a fatigue crack in this detail. This result
cross-beam has been attributed to several factors.

& In the original construction a weld preparation was applied

to the top edge of the trough web to provide a combination
of a partial penetration butt weld and a fillet weld.

CL 4

CL 7 CL 8(T)(H) CL 10
C
Bridge
CL 12(H) CL 16 CL 17
CL 8(T)(H)

CL 21B(T) CL 5 CL 11(T) CL 20 CL 18(T) CL 21A(T) CL 24(D) CL 14(D) CL 24(D) CL 13(H)

CL 26

Orthotropic deck
Trough

Cantilever beam
Ca Cross-beam
ntil
Inner web

CL 3
ver
pro
CL 19(T)
p CL 25
O

CL 6
ut
er

North (outer) cell Centre (inner) cell

we
b

CL 9 CL 15 CL 1 CL 2

Bottom flange

Scale 1:50

(T) indicates typical location only

(H) indicates locations that occur halfway between consecutive
cantilever/cross-beams
(D) indicates locations that occur at diaphragms only

Figure 5. Typical fatigue crack-prone locations

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& The deck plate is generally 12?7 mm. figure for actual fatigue life, comparative studies have shown
& The thickness of the asphalt over the deck is 60 mm. that the typical treatment details that have been developed
provide an order of magnitude increase in the fatigue life.
The WGB management team continues to monitor this detail
with ultrasonic non-destructive testing (NDT) inspections at The modelling typically involves shell models for the box as a
intervals. whole and solid models for the details, and over the years there
has been extensive strain gauging of the bridge that has
Cases in which cracks between trough to deck have been found confirmed the findings of the analysis. Much of the modelling
have always been related to the lateral sway bracing found at has been performed by the University of Melbourne under the
the cross and cantilever beams. In some instances the increased guiding hand of Emeritus Professor Len Stevens, and more
stiffness introduced by this bracing has caused a crack at the recently Flint & Neill Limited has undertaken analytical
trough-to-deck weld. In general, all of these cracks have been studies of many of the details to assist in arriving at the suite
confined to the weld and have not migrated into the deck plate. of treatment details described in Section 6.
This result has been due, in part, to the original construction
welds having been made using rutile electrodes that result in 4. Crack management strategy
weld that is weaker than the heat-affected zone at the parent
material. 4.1 General
The strategy for management of fatigue cracking includes the
3. Analysis following key elements.
Over the years a considerable amount of analysis work has
been performed to assist in fatigue management. & Identification, by reference to cracking that has already
been observed in the bridge, observed cracks in similar
Analysis to predict absolute fatigue life and determine residual bridges around the world, predictive analysis, and the
life have proved to be of limited value. The main difficulty with findings from detailed FEA, of areas where fatigue cracks
such analysis has been accurate modelling of the details in the might occur.
bridge and quantifying the load spectrum to be applied to the & General inspections of the bridge (as noted in Section 5.1).
detail. As one might expect, within any group of similar typical & Regular targeted inspections of areas identified as fatigue
details, the first to show a crack will be that with the poorest prone to detect and record new cracks.
quality of weld. The inspections have shown that for different & Regular monitoring of existing cracks, with inspection
locations in the bridge for what is essentially the same detail intervals determined by the potential seriousness of the
the fatigue life can vary considerably depending on the quality existing crack. Currently, the inspection interval of the
of the weld. cracks varies from 3 months to 2 years. However, as
treatment works progress, the number of details requiring
However, analysis work, particularly FEA, has proved to be inspection at intervals of less than 1 year is being reduced
particularly useful in gaining an understanding of the reasons and the ultimate objective is to have 2 years as the shortest
for the cracking once it has been identified. FEA enables the inspection interval for all details.
identification of stress concentrations and facilitates the devel- & Responding to and treating cracks that are identified as
opment of details to reduce or eliminate the stress concentra- requiring urgent treatment, although given the repair works
tions by providing alternative load paths, providing additional effected over the years the incidence of such cracks is now
strengthening or simply removing the detail in which the high uncommon. Typically, these might be cracks that are
stresses are being induced. propagating at a rapid rate and might propagate into and
compromise the performance of an essential structural
Management of fatigue cracking includes regular inspections element.
to determine the rate of propagation of existing cracks and & Timely treatment of non-urgent cracks to avoid more costly
to identify new cracks. The findings from these inspections works if the cracks were permitted to continue propagating.
provide an appreciation of the rate at which new cracks are & Proactive treatments to prevent cracks from initiating.
appearing for each typical crack type and the rate at which
cracks tend to propagate for each crack type once they form. The most appropriate option is not necessarily to give priority
to the crack that might be regarded as the ‘worst’. While
In deciding the detail to be adopted for treatment of a typical accepting that priority must be given to ensuring that, at all
crack, modelling and analysis is used to compute the fatigue times, the integrity of the bridge is maintained, the prioritisa-
life of the existing detail and that of options for the treatment tion of work is more commonly a matter of economics, which
detail. Although the analysis may still not provide an accurate is a function of a great many factors.

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The goal with the works programme is to simplify the of a repair from below for these locations is about one fifth of
inspection and monitoring task by improvements to virtually the cost of a repair that requires cutting out a cracked section
all fatigue-prone details. The aim with the proactive treatment of deck and lane closures. There is a very high probability that
of details is also to reduce the fatigue crack treatment task. cracks will eventually arise at all of these typical crack-prone
However, the level of success with the achievement of this aim locations, although the timing is uncertain. Proactive treatment
will be dependent on the rate at which new cracks appear. is relatively straightforward, it has to be done at some stage
and it has been shown that proactive treatment to prevent
4.2 Prioritisation of treatment works cracking is substantially less costly than a repair after a crack
The WGB is maintained by VicRoads, and VicRoads has a team forms. Indeed, in instances where substantial cracking has been
in place charged with responsibility for the management of the allowed to occur, it can limit the options for a repair and
bridge. As with any road authority, the maintenance work on the repaired detail may have an increased risk of a crack
WGB competes, in the allocation of funding, with other reappearing after the repair.
maintenance demands of the road authority. The following list
summarises, in priority order, the allocation of expenditure on The three main criteria for assessing the priority for treatment
management of fatigue cracks. of existing cracks that require repair are

& Maintain monitoring of existing cracks and fatigue-prone & the consequences of allowing continued propagation
areas where cracks have not yet appeared, with inspection & the current size, location and rate of growth of the crack
intervals determined by the potential seriousness of the & the potential cost savings if a crack is repaired in its early
crack. stages as opposed to allowing it to become longer and
& Respond and treat any cracks that might require immediate possibly propagate into adjacent more critical structural
attention. The main considerations in a decision that a elements.
crack requires urgent treatment are as follows.
Fatigue detail 21A presents an example that illustrates some
& The rate at which a crack might be growing and when it of the points being made above. This detail, illustrated in
is likely to reach the stage of requiring immediate Figure 6, is effectively a lateral brace (or sway brace) for the
treatment. bottom flange of the cross-beam that is no longer required. A
& The gravity of a crack when it reaches the stage at which vertical cross-plate is welded between the webs of two adjacent
treatment cannot be further delayed. An informed troughs and the sloping brace connects this cross-plate to the
judgement is required on this point and will include
cross-beam flange. The proactive treatment for detail 21A
considerations such as the importance of the cracked
involves cutting the cross-plate and thereby decoupling the
member, whether there are alternative load paths and the
existing stiffener on the cross-beams that is no longer required.
potential traffic interruption implications.

& Allocate the remainder of the available funding to the

treatments that represent the best return, in the long term,
for the funds expended. Accordingly, the aim is not
necessarily to continue spending money only on locations
that contain a crack. It commonly provides a better return
to give priority to proactive treatments, when doing so
reduces the risk of more costly reactive repairs after cracks
appear.

In particular, where there is a stiffener welded to the deck plate

a proactive treatment can be expected substantially to reduce
the risk of cracking and the risk of the crack propagating into
the deck plate. If they have not extended into the deck they can
be repaired from below. If they extend for the full thickness of
the deck plate it is necessary to cut a hole in the deck from
above that surrounds the crack, re-weld a new section of plate
into the deck and re-instate the waterproofing membrane and Figure 6. Critical location 21A with cuts to provide proactive
asphalt over the area repaired. Such work requires lane treatment
closures and has to be carried out at night. The estimated cost

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This restraint due to the brace was causing cracks to be details have been modified as a proactive treatment to prevent
induced in the deck trough web where the cross-plate is fatigue cracking. The length of around 1700 cracks is currently
connected and in the longitudinal weld between the trough being monitored, and there is regular inspection of a further
stiffener web and the deck plate immediately above the cross- 5100 details that are prone to cracking but have not yet
plate. Both the trough and the trough-to-deck weld are cracked.
important structural elements and the cost of the repair of
such cracks is very dependent on the extent of cracking that has The total number of known cracks continues to increase
been allowed to develop, and can be costly and difficult. For steadily, but this increase is probably due more to skill
the repair of the trough web, it is sometimes necessary to cut development and improved techniques with the identification
out a rectangular section from the trough that fully encloses of cracks than the incidence of new cracks.
the cracking and weld in a new ‘patch’ that includes a butt weld
detail with a backing bar. However, in the majority of cases the The whole of the inside of the box girder is coated with red lead
trough web cracking does not even go for the full thickness of paint, which was commonly used at the time the bridge was
the trough web plate. Proactive treatment involves leaving the constructed. The removal of the red lead paint from all of the
stiffener in place and making two vertical cuts, using a thermic fatigue-prone areas would be a very substantial and costly
lance, to eliminate the restraint that is giving rise to the exercise. On the other hand, it can be difficult to identify cracks
cracking; a comparatively simple exercise. under the paint film and, conversely, it often happens that an
imperfection in the paint coating gives the appearance of and
5. Inspections is recorded as a fatigue crack. Unfortunately, several of the
cracks are in corners where there was a tendency for excessive
5.1 General film thickness to occur in the original coating and cracks in the
There are currently 26 typical details that are exhibiting cracks paint film due to shrinkage can give the appearance of a crack
or have been identified as prone to cracking. The aim, with the in the fillet weld.
current programme of fatigue crack treatment works, is to
bring the bridge to the stage at which the shortest inspection It is intended that the records from the inspections be added
interval for any detail is 2 years. An inspection interval is to the bridge management system that is currently being
allocated to every crack and crack-prone location. Currently, populated by the WGB management team.
the shortest inspection interval is 3 months but, given the
progress that has been achieved with the treatment of cracks, it 6. Treatment details
is expected that this shortest interval will shortly be increased A suite of reactive and proactive treatment details has been
to 6 months. Areas prone to fatigue cracks, but not yet developed. Reactive details are applied in response to a detail
cracked, are typically inspected every 2 years, although in some that has cracked. Proactive details are to treat a detail prone to
cases only a representative proportion of these details is cracking but where no defect has yet occurred.
inspected at these 2-yearly intervals. Virtually all of the
inspection for fatigue cracks is visual. NDT is generally only The suite of treatment details developed is specific to the WGB
used as part of fatigue treatment works to confirm that cracks and is based either on achieving an improved quality of the
have been fully removed. Each crack is given a unique weldments or an improvement to the flow of stresses as
identification number and the inspection record includes determined by a FEA. When studying a fatigue-prone area a
details of its location and the crack type. The inspection of a detailed finite-element model is developed with the WGB
crack involves marking the end of the crack and recording its weight in motion traffic data being used to obtain the stress at
length. If the crack length has increased since the previous the weld through the hot spot stress method. The fatigue life
inspection, then photographs are taken of the crack. is then determined for the connection, which allows the
optimisation of the proposed treatment detail to decrease or
In addition to inspecting all of the areas that have been eliminate the stress concentrations.
identified as prone to cracking, a sample of box girder cells is
comprehensively inspected every 2 years to identify any The principles behind the treatment details include the
cracking in areas not listed as prone to cracking. following.

5.2 Number of cracks & Gouging out and replacing poor quality welds with
Along with the strengthening of the bridge to carry the improved preparation and welds.
additional lane in each carriageway has come an increased & Strengthening connection details to reduce stress concen-
focus on the inspection for and treatment of fatigue cracking. trations. Figure 7 shows a bracket installed to improve the
Since 2011, around 1250 cracks have been treated and 750 flow of stress around the detail shown in Figures 4 and 5.

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To reduce these costs, specific work platforms have been

procured by the bridge management team.

In a few instances the risk associated with not treating the

crack is low and it is simply monitored.

7. Construction issues
Fundamental to the successful management of the inspection
task and the work on the treatment of fatigue cracks is the
provision of safe access at all times. Step ladders are commonly
used for the inspections and a light purpose-designed scaffold
is used for the treatment works. The scaffold is supported off
the bottom flange cross-beams and is assembled using scaffold
clips rather that bolts. The outer face of the bridge and the
soffit are accessed using a mobile bridge inspection platform.

Before the 2011 strengthening, the only way to access the inside
of the bridge was by way of manholes in the deck within the
median. As part of the strengthening, new access holes were cut
into the soffit, a permanent personnel lift was provided at pier
15 and walkways and access holes through the bridge were
improved.

As noted in Section 4.1, the prioritisation of work is largely

driven by economics. Commonly, proactive works are given
priority as they prevent cracking and the need for more costly
Figure 7. Reactive repair to junction between inner web vertical repairs. The works are organised in packages that enable the
stiffener and cross-beam work to be progressed in an orderly and efficient manner.
Where welding is required on the underside of the deck, the
lane above is closed to traffic to ensure that the quality of the
& Increasing the flexibility of connections to reduce secondary
weld is not compromised. Generally, lane closures are only at
stresses and resulting stress concentrations. Figure 3 shows
night because of the high traffic demands on the bridge during
the outer web-to-deck connection described in Section 2 and
the day.
its proactive treatment of the stiffener connection. There are
some important features to note with this modified detail.
The original stiffener detail continued up and was 8. Conclusion
connected to the deck plate. The main objective with the WGB, in common with other similar bridges around the world,
modified detail is to minimise stress concentrations around is exhibiting an increasing number of fatigue cracks as vehicle
the end of the stiffener at the point it is welded to the deck loads and traffic volumes increase and the more fatigue-prone
plate. The critical point is at the intersection between the details reach the end of their fatigue life.
tangent to the return weld around the end of the stiffener
and the centreline of the stiffener. The location and shape Fatigue treatment works include the reactive treatment of
of the circular cut-out increases the flexibility of the areas where cracks have been detected and proactive treatment
connection, the fillet weld along each side of the stiffener is of areas not yet cracked but known to be fatigue prone. Since
increased to 8 mm and the fillet weld is returned around the 2011 some 600 repairs and 500 proactive treatment details have
end of the stiffener. been implemented, and results to date, measured by the
& Removing connections that are not required and are giving incidence of new cracks within modified details, have been
rise to secondary stresses and stress concentrations. The good.
treatment described in Section 4.2 and illustrated in
Figure 6 provides an example of such a treatment. A suite of treatment details has been developed and based on
fatigue analysis of the original detail and proposed treatment
In general it has been found that a major component of the details is expected substantially to improve the resistance of
cost of these treatments is the cost of accessing the work front. these details to fatigue cracking.

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Analytical work and strain gauging has provided a good Conference on the Safety of Bridge Structures, Wroclaw,
understanding of the behaviour of fatigue-prone areas and the Poland, pp. 421–428.
extensive monitoring programme has provided an understanding Grundy P, Stevens LK and Burkitt GM (1994) Fatigue studies of
of the rate at which new cracks appear in the typical fatigue-prone Westgate Bridge. Australasian Structural Engineering
details and the rate at which cracks propagate once they form. Conference Sydney, 1 CL4 paper, IABSE Congress Report,
pp. 81–88.
Traffic volumes are increasing. It can be expected that Polymenakos D, Taylor SR and Percy RA (2012) West Gate Bridge
management of fatigue cracking will continue to be a major strengthening project – ongoing operation and
element of the WGB management task. maintenance strategies. Proceedings of the 18th Congress of
IABSE, Seoul, IABSE Congress Report, pp. 911–918 (8).
REFERENCES Wolchuk R (1990) Lessons from weld cracks in orthotropic
Burkitt GM, Grundy P and Stevens LK (1992) Fatigue studies of decks on three European bridges. Journal of Structural
Westgate Bridge. Proceedings of the 4th International Engineering ASCE 116(1): 75–84.

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