Fatigue Process in Beams of Reinforced Concrete Bridges: A Literature Review

Fernando Júnior Resende Mascarenhas1, André Luis Christoforo2, Roberto Chust Carvalho3
1
Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) / Civil Engineering Department (DCiv) / Graduate Program in Civil
Engineering (PPGECiv) / fer.jr.resende@hotmail.com
2
Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) / Civil Engineering Department (DCiv) / Graduate Program in Civil
Engineering (PPGECiv) / christoforoal@yahoo.com.br
3
Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) / Civil Engineering Department (DCiv) / robertochustcarvalho@gmail.com

Abstract
Viaducts and bridges are affected directly by the predominance by the road matrix. In recent years there has
been an increase in the flow and weight of vehicles that travel on highways, which requires special attention
on the structural performance of bridges and viaducts. Among the several structural problems to which these
structures are susceptible, the fatigue deserves to be highlighted, especially in view of the growing number of
heavy vehicles. Fatigue is a phenomenon associated with the imposition of repeated dynamic actions.
Considering that the live loads have these characteristics, they can be considered as recurring in bridges and
viaducts of reinforced concrete. Hence, this article aims to discuss the phenomenon of fatigue in beams of
reinforced concrete bridges, pointing out and analyzing the most recent studies that approach the subject. Once
this paper presents a literature review, it will be divided in two parts. In the first one, it will be presented and
explained the fatigue process in the concrete itself, in bars reinforcement themselves and in reinforced concrete
structures. In the second part it will be exposed and discussed the most relevant and recent researches that
have been done in the fatigue processes of beams of reinforced concrete bridges. Moreover, at the ending, an
overview analysis will be carried out with the objective to state the current stage of researches in this field.
Based on what have been analyzed the fatigue process in beams of reinforced concrete bridges is something
of great concern from Brazilian governmental offices, such as the Brazilian National Department of
Infrastructure and Transportation (DNIT), and researchers all over the word have been carrying projects,
studies and investigations out about the fatigue process in these structures. Hence, this is an issue of extreme
importance of structural integrity of bridges and viaducts.

Keywords
Literature Review; Fatigue; Beams; Bridges; Researches.
1. INTRODUCTION

Bridges and viaducts are elements of great importance in the infrastructure network of cities, states
and countries all over the world, especially in Brazil, which has the road modal as the predominant one even
more with regard to road cargo transportation, whose total is significant. Based on that, the phenomenon of
the fatigue deserves special attention.
According to the Brazilian Standard NBR 6118: 2014 - Concrete Structures Project: Procedure,
"Fatigue is a phenomenon associated with repeated dynamic actions, which can be understood as a process of
progressive and permanent modifications of the internal structure of a submitted material the oscillation of
tensions resulting from these actions "(ASSOCIAÇÃO BRASILEIRA DE NORMAS TÉCNICAS, 2014,
p.193).
Habeeba, Sabeena and Anjusha (2015, p. 2561) describe fatigue as being "the progressive deterioration
of a structure by the growth of cracks due to the variations of stresses (cycles) resulting from the application
of repeated loads, such as induced in components of bridges under loads of 'real' heavy vehicles.
The growth in the number of heavy vehicles on the highways has generated several problems in the
constituent elements of bridges and viaducts. Among the structural problems to which bridges and viaducts
are susceptible, fatigue deserves to be highlighted (PIMENTAL; BRUHWILER; FIGUEIRAS, 2008;
BARONI; GASTAL; SILVA FILHO, 2009), since the variability and the regime of mobile loads structures
are more likely to suffer from this phenomenon.
Liu and Zhou (2018) reinforce the above, stating that "research on the problem of fatigue in reinforced
concrete beams is of great importance for the design, maintenance and reinforcement of bridges" (LIU; ZHOU,
3512).
Therefore, based on the importance of bridges and viaducts, this article aims to discuss the
phenomenon of fatigue in beams of reinforced concrete bridges, pointing out and analyzing the most recent
studies that approach the subject.

1.1 Metodology

Once this paper presents a literature review, it will be divided in two parts. In the first one, it will be
presented and explained the fatigue process in the concrete itself, in bars reinforcement themselves and in
reinforced concrete structures. In the second part it will be exposed and discussed the most relevant and recent
researches that have been done in the fatigue processes of beams of reinforced concrete bridges.
Moreover, at the ending, an overview analysis will be carried out with the objective to state the current
stage of researches in this field.

2. FATIGUE PROCESS

The American Code “LRFD Bridge Design Specifications” by the American Association of State
Highway and Transport Officers (AASHTO, 2014) defines fatigue as “is a phenomenon of material failure
caused by repeated applications of a load. When applied infrequently, these loads would cause no undesirable
effects, but when applied repeatedly, they can lead to failure. When the load is cyclic, the stress level that
leads to failure can be significantly less than the material yield stress” (AASHTO, 2014, p. 3.18).
In spite of this, Baroni (2010, p. 30) clarifies that, from the engineering point of view, fatigue can be
understood as “the rupture that involves the formation and growth of a crack in a structural component” arising
from the deformations that the variant loads over time cause. Therefore, after a “certain number of cycles”,
fracture of the structure or structural member may occur due to the “accumulation of damage and coalescence
of defects in the crystalline structure” (BARONI, 2010, p. 32).
The factors that influence stress variations in fatigue are: the geometry of the vehicles, the axle loads,
the dimensions of the vehicles, the composition of the traffic (the history of traffic at the analyzed location)
and the dynamic effects of that traffic (EUROCODE 1, 2003).
Data from the Brazilian Association of Highway Concessionaires (ABCR, 2018) show that the number
of heavy vehicles used in the state of São Paulo, in Brazil, increased by 32.45% between 2009 and 2017.
 This has a direct impact on the viaducts and bridges, since their structural performances and useful
lives are related to this growing volume of heavy vehicles on the highways. Recent research has shown that
the number and weight of freight vehicles traveling on highways has increased significantly and has caused
problems for viaducts and bridges (PIMENTEL; BRÜHWILER; FIGUEIRAS, 2008; WANG; ZHAI;
WANG, 2013; HAN et al., 2015; HABEEBA; SABEENA; ANJUSHA, 2015; DENG; WANG; YU; 2016;
LU et al., 2017; LIU et al., 2017; LOU; NASSIF; SU, 2017; ALENCAR et al., 2018).
ABCR (2019) clarifies that there is concern about the verification of the fatigue phenomenon in older
concrete bridges and viaducts of more than 40 years old, and these works are the most worrying, "until they
are reinforced and updated for the train current type ".
The Department of Buildings and Roads of the state Minas Gerais (DEER-MG), in Brazil, explains
that studies about fatigue in reinforced concrete beams are "of great value to the development of Brazilian
structural engineering" (DEER-MG, 2019). A fact also defended by ABCR (2019) and by the National
Department of Transport Infrastructure of Brazil (DNIT) (2019), which states that "this theme is very
important and deserves special attention".
Zhang, Li and Stang (2001) and Baroni (2010) explain that over the years the phenomenon of fatigue
has been studied by several researchers. In the 19th century Wohler and Spangenber introduced the so-called
S-N (Stress-Number) Curves; in 1874 Gerber presented methods for calculating the fatigue life for several
stress cycles. Basquin, in 1910, presented the mathematical expression that correlated the data of the S-N
Curves; in 1945 Miner proposed a linear equation with which the accumulated fatigue data was verified in
order to obtain the probability of rupture.
In 1960, Coffin and Manson presented an empirical relationship between fatigue life and values of
plastic deformations; in the 1960s, Paris explained how cracking appeared and grew due to fatigue in concrete;
in addition to Peterson's studies that allowed the establishment of the relationship between stress levels and
resistance to fatigue (ZHANG; Li; STANG, 2001; BARONI, 2010).
As stated by Brighenti, Carpinteri and Corbari (2013) and Keerthana and Chandra Kishen (2018), there
are different methodologies for analyzing the effect of fatigue on materials, among them the Paris-Erdoga
Law, Fracture Mechanics and the principle or mechanics of Accumulated Damage. Keerthana and Chandra
Kishen (2018) highlight the importance of the last two approaches when stating that they have been widely
used by the scientific community to “characterize the fatigue behavior of concrete” (KEERTHANA;
CHANDRA KISHEN, 2018, p. 278).
Among the different methodologies adopted in the analysis of fatigue, one of the most used is the
principle of Accumulated Damage, or Palmgren-Miner rule. This approach is adopted due to the fact that in
bridge fatigue, non-uniform stress variations occur (SANTOS; PFEIL, 2014), as shown in Figure 3.1 (c).
According to Pimentel, Bruhwiler and Figueiras (2008) and Wang, Zhai and Wang (2015), the accumulated
damage D linearly relates the number of cycles experienced n with the number of cycles necessary to bring
the structure to rupture N:

N
ni
D= (1)
i =1 i

D is the cumulative damage

ni is the number of experienced cycles
Ni is the necessary number of cycles to lead the structure to the rupture due to the fatigue phenomenon

According to Freitas (2014), cited by Mascarenhas and Carvalho (2019, p. 306), “the use of Fatigue
Damage Accumulation Methodology has as main advantage its rigor, due to the absence of conversion and
simplification equations”. Freitas (2014) also points out that “when the study focusses on a reduced number
of elements, the use of this method can be viable”, as it is the case of this research that analyzes reinforced
concrete beams (MASCARENHAS; CARVALHO, 2019, p. 2019).

2.1 Fatigue in concrete

Maggi (2004, p.8) explains that fatigue in concrete "begins on a microscopic scale and is associated
with increased crack opening and reduced stiffness." Among the factors that influence the resistance of
concrete to fatigue are: "tension variation, stock history, material properties, stock frequency, voltage gradient
and time off" (MAGGI, 2004, p.8).
Ray and Kishen (2011) argue that unlike metallic and ceramic materials, the fatigue fracture in concrete
is still limited. The authors further explain that this occurs because concrete is a heterogeneous material and
that it has "a region in the process of cracking on a large scale" (RAY; KISHEN, 2011, p.75).

2.2 Fatigue in the reinforcement

Schlafli and Bruhwiler (1998) clarify that the propagation of fatigue in the armature can be divided
into two phases. In the first phase, the crack propagation occurs in a stable manner, and in the second phase a
fragile fracture is observed in the remaining section (SCHLAFLI, BRUHWILER, 1998).
Baroni (2010, p.42) points out that "the factors influencing the fatigue strength of steel bars are:
minimum stress, bar diameter, beam type, strain geometry, bending and splicing of bars".

2.3 Fatigue in the reinforced concrete

Schlafli and Bruhwiler (1998) and Ray and Kishen (2014) argue that the mechanical behavior of
reinforced concrete elements is closely linked to the behavior of the frame. Thus, the rupture of the element
is associated with the rupture of the frame, which in most cases occurs with flexion (Schlafli and Bruhler
1998, RAY, KISHEN, 2014, RUIZ et al., 2015).
Figure 1 shows the fatigue rupture of a reinforced concrete element. As shown in the figure, the
concrete is quite cracked, but the rupture occurred in the reinforcement.

Figure 1 – Detail of fatigue fracture of the reinforcement (Zanuy et al., 2011).

Maggi (2004, p. 8) explains that fatigue in concrete "starts on a microscopic scale and is associated with
increased crack opening and reduced stiffness". Among the factors that influence the resistance of concrete to
fatigue are: “stress variation, history of actions, material properties, frequency of actions, stress gradient and
periods of rest” (MAGGI, 2004, p. 8).
Zanuy, Maya and Fluente (2011) point out that in general terms the repeated cycles acting on a structural
member cause it to lose strength/stiffness due to excessive cracks and deformations. This loss of stiffness is
due to the degradation of the concrete in its compressed region and the reduction of the so-called “tension
stiffening”. Junges (2017, p. 91) explains that “the term tension stiffening refers to the ability of concrete to
withstand tensile stresses between cracks due to the transfer of forces from the bars to the concrete through
adherence”.
Figure 3.4 shows the reduction in tension stiffening as the number of cycles increases, based on the tests
performed by Zanuy, Maya and Fluente (2011). Two relevant facts about the figure are highlighted: first, as
the number of cycles increases, it is closer to pure Stage II; and the gradual reduction in tension stiffening is
the result of the loss of adhesion between steel bars and concrete. For this reason, in the analytical calculations
to determine the stresses in concrete and steel, State II's moment of inertia is used. In addition, ST1 and FT1
are the tested beams and FEM, LC is a model with the action of controlled loads modeled in finite element
software.
 Figure 2 – Test of load–average steel strain (Zanuy et al., 2011).

3. RELEVANT RESEARCHES

In the work developed by Pimentel, Brühwiler and Figueiras (2008) the authors analytically analyzed
the damage due to fatigue in the frame of beams simply supported by reinforced concrete road bridges with
small spans. The authors' main objectives were “to evaluate the consequences of the increasing traffic loads”
and, using Eurocode, to determine the most favorable conditions for the occurrence of fatigue (PIMENTEL;
BRÜHWILER; FIGUEIRAS, 2008, p. 215).
So that, the authors applied the Cumulative Damage method and the SN curves to estimate the damage
and fatigue life in the longitudinal reinforcement of the beams simply supported by three reinforced concrete
bridges with 5.0, 7.5 and 10, 0 m (PIMENTEL; BRÜHWILER; FIGUEIRAS, 2008).
The authors concluded that the increase in the value of vehicle axle loads is something more worrisome
than the increase in the volume of traffic itself. Longitudinal reinforcement is the most affected by the
phenomenon of fatigue in view of the high number of heavy vehicles. In addition, they draw attention to the
importance of knowing the actual flow of vehicles for each bridge to obtain a more accurate fatigue life
determination (PIMENTEL; BRÜHWILER; FIGUEIRAS, 2008).
The authors also argue that more research is needed on the real dynamic behavior of short to medium
span reinforced concrete bridges, in order to “define an appropriate and realistic dynamic amplification factor
that can be used in fatigue calculations” (PIMENTEL; BRÜHWILER; FIGUEIRAS, 2008, p. 221).
In studies conducted by Australian researchers on three reinforced concrete road bridges it was found
that armor fatigue damage due to the passage of "four- and five-axle heavy and short trucks were identified as
the most damaging traffic events" in two of the analyzed bridges (PIRCHER et al., 2011, p.3755).
Zhang, Xin and Cui (2012) point out that the economic growth that China has been experiencing in
recent years directly contributes to the expressive increase in heavy vehicle traffic on the country's highways.
Such fact implies the fatigue resistance of bridges and road viaducts. Thus, the authors analyzed reinforced
concrete bridges simply supported from 4 to 60 m span, on 54 Chinese roads between the years 1988 and
2005.
The authors aimed to assess whether the fatigue coefficient proposed by the Chinese code for mobile
loads was in line with the actual loads on the bridges. Through the studies conducted, the authors reached
some conclusions. First, they claim that the Accumulated Damage principle, or Palmgren-Miner rule, is a
“practical method for determining fatigue damage” for simply supported beams (ZHANG, XIN, CUI, 2012,
p. 793).
The authors also concluded that “it is recommended that the fatigue damage coefficient be updated for
the new” Chinese code of mobile loads for road bridges, for bridges with spans smaller than 20 m (ZHANG,
XIN, CUI, 2012, p. 793).
 Studies conducted by Chinese and American university professors, Han et al. (2015), performed traffic
monitoring over a long period of time in order to identify the main characteristics of extra-heavy vehicles,
such as “vehicle type, lane distribution, speed, axle weight, axle distance, and the variation of flow rate over
time”(HAN et al., 2015, p. 1).
The authors numerically investigated “bridge response and dynamic amplification factors (DAFs)” for
typical 13 m long and 25 m long bridges (HAN et al., 2015, p. 1). The results obtained from these analyzes
were contrasted with those specified in the American code AASHTO LRFD and with the Chinese code. For
the flow of vehicles analyzed by them, the authors concluded that the bending moments due to heavy vehicles
are lower when compared to that obtained by American codes.
Wang et al. (2015, p. 305) explain that "existing concrete bridges are aging" and as a result of the
increase in number and weight of vehicles these structures are suffering from deterioration to fatigue.
Rossigali et al. (2015, p.124) report that there is a growing concern and search for load models more
compatible with reality "for the project of road bridges in Brazil are under development with the assembly of
a database of real traffic, simulations of traffic, analytical-numerical modeling of the vehicle-structure
dynamic interaction and extrapolations ". Considering this fact, the authors analyze small-sided reinforced
concrete bridges, with single tracks and two tracks under different traffic scenarios.
With regard to the deleterious effects of fatigue, the proper establishment of fatigue life of the structural
constituents of bridges and viaducts is of great relevance, either at the design or implementation stage (THEIL,
2016).
Assuming that "constant traffic growth may pose a safety risk to bridges in service, especially for large-
span bridges subjected to simultaneous impacts due to the presence of several heavy trucks," Lu et al. (2017)
conducted their studies (LU et al., 2017, p.1).
More recent works such as that developed by Deng and Yang (2018) dealt with the formulation of
permitting methods and the legal limits of heavy vehicle weights, taking into account the accumulated fatigue
damage in the bridges. The authors have obtained fatigue damage results for different stress variations in their
studies and report that such results "can be used to determine the boundary load for new and old bridges"
(DAN, YAN, 2018, p. 7).
The work developed by Schneider and Marx (2018) is presented as relevant theoretical source. The
authors argue that bridges with continuous beams, simply supported, are "the most unfavorable" to be used on
high-speed road bridges (SCHNEIDER, MARX, 2018, p. 366).
Liu and Zhou (2018) conducted studies to analyze the effects of fatigue damage on reinforced concrete
bridge beams. For this, the authors tested four rectangular reinforced concrete beams in the laboratory. The
authors concluded that fatigue damage in rectangular reinforced concrete beams has three stages. In the early
stages and in the later stages of the fatigue test, damage is developing rapidly; and in the intermediate stage
of fatigue testing, damage development is relatively stable "(LIU; ZHOU, 2018, p. 3512).
Braz et al. (2018, p.1; 4) analyzed “four models of reinforced concrete bridge with two beans in the
light of Brazilian and European codes” and the four bridges are “hyper-static, with 50 MPa fck, CA-50 steel
and main spans 20 m”. When analyzing and comparing the results, the authors found that:

The European normative treatment proved to be more conservative than the Brazilian with regard to
the fatigue of the reinforcements and the dimensioning. This behavior is a reflection of the European
normative rigor that adopts design vehicles and specific load enhancement coefficients for fatigue, as
well as a single fatigue resistance value for the different reinforcement gauges (BRAZ et al., 2018, p.
10).

In addition, it is presented the most recent studied made by Mascarenhas and Carvalho (2019) that
analyzed “the fatigue service life of longitudinal reinforcement in reinforced concrete bridge beams by
considering the actual number of heavy vehicles from 2 to 6 axes in a railway in the state of São Paulo, Brazil”
(MASCARENHAS; CARVALHO, 2019, p. 303). Moreover, they studied bridges with spans of 10, 15 and
20 m.
It was used the Accumulated Damage principle, or Palmgren-Miner rule, and the authors used vehicles
data from 2009 until 2017. Based on their studies and analyzes the authors concluded that “the fatigue service
life of the longitudinal reinforcement varies according to the size of the span, and in the three analyzed bridges
the fatigue service life is less than 30 years”.
4. FINAL REMARKS

In view of the relevance of bridges and viaducts in social and economic dynamics, as well as in the
increase in the number of heavy vehicles on highways, the main objective of this work is to present the
concepts related to the fatigue process in reinforcement, concrete and reinforced concrete itself , and, above
all, to present the most relevant studies about the phenomenon of fatigue in these structures.
Based on what have been analyzed the fatigue process in beams of reinforced concrete bridges is
something of great concern from Brazilian governmental offices, such as DNIT, and researchers all over the
word have been carrying projects, studies and investigations out about the fatigue process in these structures.
Hence, this is an issue of extreme importance of structural integrity of bridges and viaducts.
Moreover, there have been made many studies all over the world, however Brazil still needs more
studies about the fatigue in the reinforced concrete bridges and viaducts of the railways of the country.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks are given to the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES),
which is a foundation linked to the Ministry of Education of Brazil, for the support through the scholarship
granted to the corresponding author. This scholarship has allowed the most positive development of this paper.
In addition, we thank very much the Graduate Program in Civil Engineering (PPGECiv) from Federal
University of São Carlos (UFSCar), ABCR, DEER-MG and DNIT for all support.

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