Curtin University of Technology

Department of Civil Engineering

CIVIL AND STRUCTURAL DESIGN 366

Steel Design – Practice Problems (Past exam paper questions)
Fatigue
Question 1
A proposed 6.0 metre long, simply supported steel beam is expected to be loaded and
unloaded an estimated 5.1*106 times over its lifetime. The beam will be subjected to
a permanent working action of 1.8 kN/m and an imposed working action of 2.9 kN/m
when loaded.

Three beams have been suggested for use, all of which satisfy the ultimate member
requirements:
200UB18.2;
180PFC (20.9 kg/m)
200*100*6 RHS (26.2kg/m) I200*100*6RHS=16.7*106mm4 (Note: cold formed
section with continuous automatic longitudinal weld)

Which beam would most easily satisfy the fatigue requirements? It is only necessary
to state which is the most appropriate beam and why – full calculations are not
required (but probably a good idea to do them for practice)

Question 2
A Grade 300 1200WB342 steel girder of a bridge requires checking for fatigue
performance. The girder can be idealised as a 15 metre long simply supported beam.

The number of stress cycles to be considered is 1.5x106 cycles. It is always subjected

to a permanent action of 60kN/m. The highest imposed working stress occurs when
it is also subjected to a point load of 250kN somewhere along its length (locate the
point load where it will create the worst stresses).

Assume the beam can be easily inspected and that the client has a strict maintenance
programme proposed. Also assume that load cannot be shed to an adjacent beam and
that no splices or stiffeners are required or used along the length of the beam.
However, the beam has a 16mm thick, 300mm wide transverse connection cleat
welded to the centre of the underside of the beam at midspan.

a) Find the worst tensile stress and stress range in the flange.

b) Determine the capacity reduction factor (φ) to be used and indicate why.

c) Verify that it is required to check the fatigue behaviour of this beam in

accordance with AS4100.

d) Check if the beam satisfies the fatigue limit state of AS4100.

Kerri Bland 1
Lecturer
Curtin University of Technology
Department of Civil Engineering

CIVIL AND STRUCTURAL DESIGN 366

Steel Design – Practice Problems (Past exam paper questions)
Fatigue
Question 3
a) A proposed 6 metre long, simply supported steel beam is expected to be loaded
and unloaded an estimated 4.9*106 times over its lifetime. The beam will be
subjected to permanent working action of 2 kN/m and an imposed working
action of 3 kN/m when loaded. Two beams have suggested for use: 180UB22.2
and a 200UB18.2; both of which satisfy the ultimate member requirements.

(i) Which beam would be the most appropriate to satisfy the fatigue
requirements? It is only necessary to state which is the most appropriate
beam and why – full calculations are not required.

(ii) Is there another section which would be even more appropriate?

b) In a different part of the structure a proposed 12 metre long, simply supported

steel beam is also expected to be loaded and unloaded an estimated 4.9*106 times
over its lifetime. The beam will be subjected to permanent working action of 4
kN/m and an imposed working action of 13 kN/m when loaded. Two beams have
suggested for use: 610UB125 and a 700WB115; both of which satisfy the
ultimate member requirements.
Which beam would be the most appropriate to satisfy the fatigue requirements?
It is only necessary to state which is the most appropriate beam and why – full
calculations are not required.

Kerri Bland 2
Lecturer
Curtin University of Technology
Department of Civil Engineering

CIVIL AND STRUCTURAL DESIGN 366

Steel Design – Practice Problems (Past exam paper questions)
Fatigue
Question 4
A pile cap has been designed to support part of a rail bridge. In order to support the
ultimate limit state actions, a Grade 300 1200WB423 beam has been selected for use.
In order to prevent buckling of the web over the support, stiffeners have been
included as shown in Figure 1.
Assume a permanent action of 300 kN always acts at the cantilevered end of the pile
cap. Over it’s lifetime it is estimated that it will be subjected to a range of recurring
working actions at the cantilevered end of the pile cap in addition to the permanent
actions. The predicted working actions (as denoted by “P” in Figure 1) and the
predicted cycle numbers of each action are shown in Table A. “P”
1500mm
Table A
Working actions Number of
(kN) cycles
1000 1*105 1200WB423
800 2*105 pile cap
600 7*105
300 1*106
Load bearing
Total number of stiffeners
stress cycles
(to be used in
Question 1 only) 6*106

Figure 1
The pile cap needs to be checked for fatigue. Not to scale

a) Initially, do a quick conservative check, using the highest stress range (due to the
highest working action), and assume this is the stress range that occurs with
every load cycle (ie: 1000kN acting 2*106 times). It will be necessary to
consider the stress range in the flange and the web. Is a full fatigue analysis
required to be carried out? If so, is the 1200WB423 beam suitable to handle the
fatigue loading?

b) Next, carry out a more representative analysis using Miner’s Rule, to determine
whether the section is suitable to resist the fatigue loading.

Kerri Bland 3
Lecturer
Curtin University of Technology
Department of Civil Engineering

CIVIL AND STRUCTURAL DESIGN 366

Steel Design – Practice Problems (Past exam paper questions)
Fatigue
Answers
Q1 200UB18.2 best – Ratio between stresses (proportional to Z values) and detail
category lower

Q2 Flange will be critical due to connection cleat resulting in a lower detail category,
therefore normal stresses will be critical. So, worst location for the point load will be
at midspan as that will create the greatest normal stresses.
a) fmax = 150 MPa
f* = 53.6 MPa
b) 0.7 (no load shedding available)
c) Yes, needs to be checked
d) φfc = 51.4 MPa < f* so beam not OK

Q3 a) 180UB22.2 (Same detail category but higher Z, so lower stresses: more

easily satisfy fatigue (ie: more “spare” capacity)) ; 200UB22.3 (very
similar weight, higher Z – lower stresses)
b) 610UB125 – similar stresses, higher detail category

Q4 a) Max stress range in flange = 64.4 MPa; Max range in web = 85.9 MPa;
Fatigue analysis is required; Considering constant stress range for web,
f*/φfc = 1.73 therefore fails (>1), Considering constant stress range for
flange, f*/φfc = 1.42 therefore fails (>1)
b) Using Miner’s Rule, Web analysis: Miner’s rule equation yields 0.96 < 1
therefore web OK for fatigue, Flange analysis: Miner’s rule equation
yields 0.53 < 1 therefore flange OK for fatigue (for both web and flange,
there are three i group terms and one j group term in the equation)

Kerri Bland 4
Lecturer