IRC: 6-2017

The stress range resulting from the single passage of the fatigue load along the
longitudinal direction of the bridge, shall be used for fatigue assessment with the fatigue
load so positioned as to have worst effect on the detail or element of the bridge under
consideration. Toe minimum clearance between outer edge of the wheel of the fatigue
vehicle and roadway face of the kerb shall be 150 mm.

Din!ctiao of Mcnion

b~ i fo~
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J l tl
1!10 310
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310 310J
mm mm 2390mm mm mmj
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12t 14t 14t max tyre pressure 5.27Skg/cm 1

Fig. 78: Transverse Wheel Spacing

Fig. 7A: Fatigue Truck
and Tyre Arrangement
Fig. 7: Fatigue Load (40T)

For all types of bridges (i.e. Concrete, Steel or Composite) the fatigue check shall be
carried out under frequent combination of Serviceability Limit State (SLS), with load factors
for fatigue load, taken as equal to 1.0. For design for fatigue limit state, reference shall be
made to. IRC:112 for Concrete bridges, IRC:24 for Steel bridges and IRC:22 for Steel
Concrete Composite bridges.

In absence of any specific provision in these codes, following number of cycles may be
considered for fatigue assessment, depending upon the location of the bridge and the
category of roads:
1) The bridges close to areas such as ports, heavy industries and mines and
other areas, where generally heavy vehicles ply shall be designed for the
stress induced due to 10 x 106 cycles.
2) Other bridges shall be designed for the stress induced due to 2 x 106 cycles.

Bridges on rural roads need not be designed for fatigue.

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