Analysis on welding residual stress produced by repairing cracks in the joint of longitudinal rib and deck plate

Crack penetrating through bridge deck in the joint of longitudinal rib and deck plate can only be repaired by re-welding, however, it will be recurred on account of high residual stress deriving from re-weld process. In this paper, the cracks through the bridge steel deck plate at the joint of longitudinal rib and deck plate are selected as research object, then the residual stress is calculated by substructure method and the influences of welding procedure are considered meanwhile. The results show that, in the same conditions, the numeric value and distribution range for RDF cracks are higher than RD cracks and symmetry welding from middle to both ends is useful to decrease the longitudinal tensile stress. The relationship between the longitudinal residual stress and the re-welding length or the groove angle at welding toes is congruous with the power function relation.