Due to the increasing traffic and life loading fatigue becomes of high relevance in order to maintain the integrity of existing steel bridge structures. Poor construction details which used to be regarded as less important when applied e.g. to road bridges are nowadays often the starting point of fatigue cracks. Repair and strengthening of welded details are thus of great importance in order to extend the life time and safety of existing bridges. For welded details under fatigue loading one

more »

... ctive possibility to do this is the application of local post-weld treatment methods. This paper presents the application of a relatively new post-weld treatment method called "Ultrasonic Impact Treatment" (UIT). The paper summarizes the results obtained on a series of experimental fatigue tests where UIT has been applied in order to extend the life time of partially damaged non load carrying fillet welded joints.