Inspection Planning Based on DOProC Method for Steel Structures Exposed to Fatigue

The paper describes the fundamentals of the methodology for probabilistic assessment of cyclically loaded steel building structures with attention to fatigue. The phenomenon of the formation and propagation of fatigue cracks is stochastically modeled to design a control system during the operation of the structure. A real composite steel-concrete highway bridge was chosen as a demonstration example of the proposed methodology, the reliability of which was assessed in a detail susceptible to fatigue damage—at the point where the cross member connects to the stringer. The calculation procedure is based on the fully probabilistic DOProC method and has also been extended to investigate load-bearing elements made of HSS steels.