Fatigue Crack Propagation and Repair using Crack-Arrest Holes in Trough Girder Railway Bridges

Fatigue Crack Propagation and Repair using Crack-Arrest Holes in Trough Girder Railway Bridges | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Fatigue Crack Propagation and Repair using Crack-Arrest Holes in Trough Girder Railway Bridges Miki Shibata, Takeshi Hanji, Kazuo Tateishi, Masaru Shimizu, Makoto Yamaguchi, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7503300/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 5 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Fatigue cracks have been observed in the welded joints of end diaphragms in steel trough girder railway bridges. These fatigue cracks are thought to result from deterioration of the bridge supports and uneven settlements induced by train loads passing over them. As a simple repair method, crack-arrest holes are often drilled at the crack tips. However, their effectiveness remains unclear, and in some cases, the cracks tend to re-initiate and propagate. In this study, a fatigue test was conducted on an end diaphragm from a trough girder bridge under support conditions simulating those of an actual bridge. Crack propagation behavior and the effectiveness of the crack-arrest hole repair were examined through fatigue test and numerical analysis. In addition, finite element analysis replicating real bridge conditions was performed to clarify the effects of various parameters on the local stress at the edge of the crack-arrest hole. Furthermore, the effect of inserting a bolt into the hole on reducing the local stress at the hole edge was also investigated. Fatigue cracks railway bridges repair crack-arrest holes crack propagation Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 05 Dec, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 30 Sep, 2025 Editor invited by journal 19 Sep, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 02 Sep, 2025 First submitted to journal 31 Aug, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7503300","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":522910731,"identity":"3891bba7-7e0b-4aaa-9da7-e094be0e4dd2","order_by":0,"name":"Miki 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Bridges","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"welding-in-the-world","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"witw","sideBox":"Learn more about [Welding in the World](https://www.springer.com/journal/40194)","snPcode":"40194","submissionUrl":"https://www.editorialmanager.com/witw/","title":"Welding in the World","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Fatigue cracks, railway bridges, repair, crack-arrest holes, crack propagation","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7503300/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7503300/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eFatigue cracks have been observed in the welded joints of end diaphragms in steel trough girder railway bridges. These fatigue cracks are thought to result from deterioration of the bridge supports and uneven settlements induced by train loads passing over them. As a simple repair method, crack-arrest holes are often drilled at the crack tips. However, their effectiveness remains unclear, and in some cases, the cracks tend to re-initiate and propagate. In this study, a fatigue test was conducted on an end diaphragm from a trough girder bridge under support conditions simulating those of an actual bridge. Crack propagation behavior and the effectiveness of the crack-arrest hole repair were examined through fatigue test and numerical analysis. In addition, finite element analysis replicating real bridge conditions was performed to clarify the effects of various parameters on the local stress at the edge of the crack-arrest hole. Furthermore, the effect of inserting a bolt into the hole on reducing the local stress at the hole edge was also investigated.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Fatigue Crack Propagation and Repair using Crack-Arrest Holes in Trough Girder Railway Bridges","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-10-13 11:01:13","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7503300/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"","date":"2025-12-05T10:28:18+00:00","index":0,"fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-09-30T13:38:53+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"Welding in the World","date":"2025-09-19T10:19:32+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-09-02T06:16:02+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Welding in the World","date":"2025-08-31T21:35:32+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"welding-in-the-world","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"witw","sideBox":"Learn more about [Welding in the World](https://www.springer.com/journal/40194)","snPcode":"40194","submissionUrl":"https://www.editorialmanager.com/witw/","title":"Welding in the World","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"91e8b462-fe9d-4d99-9ebd-24c0a2317fdb","owner":[],"postedDate":"October 13th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-03-29T11:56:26+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-10-13 11:01:13","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7503300","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7503300","identity":"rs-7503300","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}