Fatigue reliability of wind turbines: historical perspectives, recent developments and future prospects

Wind, as a sustainable and affordable energy source, represents a strong alternative to traditional energy sources. However, wind power is only one of the options, together with other renewable energy sources. Consequently, the core concerns for wind turbine manufacturers and operators are to increase its reliability and decrease costs,...

Enhanced Fatigue Life of Old Metallic Bridges - Application of Preloaded Injection Bolts

There is a significant number of old metallic bridges with high levels of structural degradation due to their long service period. Fatigue problems are especially important in these structures since the majority of them were not designed taking into account this phenomenon. Several investigations showed that riveted joints are critical...

Fatigue experimental characterization of preloaded injection bolts in a metallic bridge strengthening scenario

All over the world, the number of civil engineering structures, particularly bridges with long service periods, has been increasing. The most common evidences of damages are the presence of corroded metallic elements and cracks in structural details due to the fatigue phenomenon. A large number of cases were found in which fatigue cracks were...

Reliability of Fatigue Strength Curves for Riveted Connections Using Normal and Weibull Distribution Functions

In North America and Europe, there is a significant number of centenary metallic bridges that require maintenance and strengthening operations. These structures need to be adapted to increasing traffic intensities, and their structural integrity should be constantly evaluated. Fatigue damages were not considered in the original design of old...

Fatigue crack propagation simulation of orthotropic bridge deck based on extended finite element method

Orthotropic Steel Decks (OSDs) are widely used in various types of steel bridges due to its benefits of light weight, high load bearing capacity and speedy construction. However, fatigue remains as the predominant problem for OSDs. Many researchers have investigated fatigue issues of welded joints through experiments but is not a cost-effective...