The present practice in some of the zonal railways is to test all the rivets falling in above 3 groups in steel

girders during 5 years technical inspection, carried out by SE/JE Bridges. It is observed that testing of rivets by rivet hammer chips off the paint film, making rivet head steel exposed to environment leading to corrosion of rivet heads. Therefore, during technical inspection, the critical locations, where rivets are to be tested, are mentioned below in detail, as well as in Bridge Manual Chapter XI. This will reduce the rivet testing work of bridge branch and reduction of cost in maintenance on account of reduction in replacement of corroded head rivets. When girders are old and certification of higher speeds of existing girders is required, all rivets can be tested before the full painting of girders so that corrosion of rivet head is avoided. Critical locations for testing loose rivets are as follows: a) In plate girder/composite girder: i) Rivets connecting web plate to flange angle of top and bottom flanges particularly at the ends of girder i.e. upto 1/12 of span from either end support and below the sleepers for top flange plate.

ii) Bearing stiffener rivets. iii) Splice rivets of flanges. iv) Bracing and cross-frame connections. b) For open web girders: i) Rivets connecting rail bearers (stringers) to cross girders in case of through span.

ii) Rivets connecting cross girder to panel point gussets. iii) Rivets connection at all panel points with main gussets to truss components of top chord and bottom chord (field connections). 98

iv) Rivets connecting bottom lateral bracings to end cross girders as well as top lateral bracings and portal bracings. Note: Rivets listed in item (i) and (ii) of open web girders are subjected to direct shear and sometimes induce tension due to excessive deflection of rail bearers and cross girders. Hence any loose rivets noticed in these joints should be replaced to avoid overstressing of other rivets or shearing of rivet heads. For loose rivets at field joints careful observation should be made and decision should be taken for replacement. If there are only one or two slightly finger loose rivets at any staggered location or less than 10% in a particular connection, it should be allowed to remain under observation with white paint mark for identification. If more rivets are loose at one location, they should be replaced to avoid overstressing of other rivets. This needs careful understanding and good experience and discretion. Rivets connecting bracings are prone to become loose on account of vibrations and these are secondary members which do not affect the strength of plate girder or truss but require replacement when found loose. Many times rivets replaced on account of corroded heads are due to bad maintenance and not due to structural defects. Rivets should be replaced only with pneumatic hand driven rivet hammer which works at compressed air pressure of 6.5 to 7.6 kg/ cm2. No hand rivetting is permitted on main member of steel girder. Maintaining proper record of loose rivets in group 2 & 3, particularly of open web girder, will help in assessing structural condition in future inspection. Therefore, proforma shown in Fig. 4.1 may be used for proper record. One form will be required for each span. This will build the history of girder and help the ADEN for Numerical Rating during his annual inspection. 99

4.3.3.1 Testing of loose rivets Rivets which are driven at site and rivets which are subjected to heavy vibrations like bracings, foot-path, trolley refuge etc. are prone to get loose. Corrosion around the rivet will indicate the looseness of rivet. Due to vibration of loose rivet, paint film gets broken and corrosion sets in. To test rivets at any critical locations mentioned above or sample testing, both hands are required to be free. Therefore, proper staging is essential. Left hand index finger is placed on one side of rivet head as shown in Fig.4.2. Then strike the rivet head on the opposite side with testing hammer, which is a light hammer weighing 110 gms with handle 300 mm long. If the rivet is loose, vibration movement is felt by the left hand index finger. This requires a little experience. The loose rivets are marked with white paint and entered in loose rivets proforma. Depending upon number of loose rivets and their location it will be programmed for replacement or kept under observation. 4.3.4 Corrosion Corrosion of steel members is one of the major factors causing considerable damage to the steel work. Steel structures are sensitive to the atmospheric conditions. Corrosion eats up the steel section and reduces its structural capacity. If not attended to in time, it may result in a) need for heavy repairs in the form of strengthening; b) need for replacement of the structure. Hence it is an important item of inspection, to keep maintenance expenditure minimum. A paint film is provided over steel work as an inhibitor of corrosion. With the passage of time, due to extreme heat and cold or abrasions by sleepers or due to stagnation of water, this protective paint film starts scaling off and gradually exposes the original steel surface to the atmosphere.

100

101
Fig. 4.1 RECORDING OF LOOSE RIVETS

102
Fig. 4.2 TESTING RIVET FOR LOOSENESS

There are certain locations in girders, which are more prone to corrosion than the other areas. These are as follows: 1. Where steel comes in contact with wood. 2. Formation of water construction features. pockets on account of

3. Places where dust can accumulate. 4. The presence of moisture near drainage system, particularly with concrete deck composite girders, road over bridge girder, etc. 5. Locations where there is a direct impact of water repeatedly. Therefore, special attention should be given during inspection to the portions of steel work where corrosion is likely to be more prevalent. Such locations are: 1. Sleeper seats - Top flanges of plate girders and underslung girders or top flanges of rail bearers (stringers) in through spans. 2. Steel affected by fumes of diesel loco like web members of truss of through girder. 3. Water pockets due to construction features - open web span bottom chord panel points form pockets for stagnation of rainwater, and in plate girders behind bent stiffeners. 4. Steel work in the vicinity of bearings. 5. Troughing of ballasted deck. 6. Top lateral bracings and portal bracings of through spans. 7. Parts of the bridge steel work exposed to sea breeze and salt water spray. 8. Interface between steel and concrete in composite girder and ROB girder. 103

9. Underside of road over bridges and web plates near road deck level of ROB semi through girder. 10.Base of columns, seating of wooden floor in FOBs as well as staircase steps. Railway bridge girder painting consists of minimum (a) primer coat (b) cover coat. Therfore, first paint film to scale is cover coat. Hence only cover coat is repainted with patch painting in certain locations which will prove to be economical as surface preparation for only cover coat painting is easy rather than unnecessarily scaling down the good and compact base coat which will increase the cost of painting as well as wastage of paint. Therefore, the inspecting officials should clearly indicate the following during inspection: i) Major portion of steel work requires only cover coat painting and at some locations patch painting. ii) Steel girder requires complete painting. iii) Only patch painting. iv) Paint in good condition, hence no painting is required. This will help in planning for painting, preparation of tender schedule and providing funds for maintenance painting. It is needless to say that bridge steel girders economical service life is mainly dictated by proper inspection and maintenance painting. 4.3.5 Fatigue Cracks Fatigue is the tendency of metal to fail at lower stress level when subjected to cyclic loading than when subjected to static loading. Fatigue failures are more common where stress concentration due to sharp corners and abrupt change of cross section exist. 104

Fatigue is becoming important because of growing volume of traffic at greater speeds and higher axle loads. Fatigue failure in the form of cracking of steel section is a major cause in Railway track bridges on account of repeated stresses. Following are critical locations of cracking; i) Ends of diagonal members near middle of the span due to reversal of stresses. ii) Sharp edges at cut notch in stringer flanges at connections with cross girders. iii) Top flange plates or flange angles of plate girders or rail bearers especially below the sleepers. iv) Roots of channel and angles on account of rolling defects. v) Corrosion pits at any location in tension member. Joints where heavy shear is transmitted. To arrest the crack propagation, a hole should be drilled at the end of the crack in plate and cover material is provided with rivets. The usual inspection for the detection of fatigue cracking are done with magnifying glass or tapping rivet testing hammer to detect by metallic sound. It is very easy to detect cracks during scraping for full painting of girder. 4.4 4.4.1 INSPECTION OF WELDED GIRDERS History of welded girders On Indian Railways welded track bridge girders are manufactured since 1980. Following are the details of drawings and spans used as track bridges:

105

S. Span No. (a) Plate Girders: 1 12.2 m MBG - 1987

RDSO Drawing No. RDSO-B-1528

Remarks

18.3m MBG-1987

RDSO-B~1529

Drawing with welded intermediate stiffener & with rivetted intermediate stiffener

24.4m MBG-1987

RDSO-B-1555 Rivetted bracings and intermediate stiffeners

4. 24.4m H.M. Loading

RDSO-BA-16001

(b) Composite Girders: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 12.2m MBG-1987 18.3 20.0 9.15 24.4 9.15 12.2 18.3 24..4 RDSO-B-1569/R 1534/R 1581/R 1623 1730 1701 1731 1738 1730 With channel shear connectors.

With stud shear connector

Basically above welded girders are having following welded joints: 1) 2) Butt Welds Fillet Welds Flange plate joints and web plate joints (if required) Web to flange connections and all stiffener connections to web plate in I-section of girders, bearings. Composite girder top flange plate and shear connectors (in addition to above) 106

Since all welded plate girder spans are less than 35m, no camber is provided in welded plate girders. Footover bridge welded truss is fabricated as cambered girder (unprestressed) All welds carried out in workshop are by submerged arc welding (SAW) which is a fully automatic process and produces sound weld. Only at some locations where SAW is not feasible welding is done by manual metal arc welding (MMAW) or CO2 welding. All railway workshops have trained staff and all fabricated girders are inspected by RDSO before despatch from workshop to ensure quality control and economical service life. Plate girders are provided with centralised articulated bearings and composite girders are provided with Bronze bearings. 4.4.2 Frequency of inspection All welded plate girders and composite girders are inspected as per provision in Chaper XI of IRBM. Hence level of inspection, items of inspection are the same as those of rivetted girder. Following are the additional manual provisions regarding welded girder inspection. (1) SE/JE Bridges shall inspect all welded girder bridges irrespective of length of span once in 3 years. (2) A detailed inspection of every welded girder bridge should be done by SE/JE Bridges after one year of its laying in the track and permitting traffic on the bridge. (3) In case of important or special type of welded girder bridges, suitable schedule of inspection should be laid down by CBEs of Zonal Railways. 4.4.3 Equipment for Inspection Welded joints are strong enough like parent metal in static structure like FOB girder, but in dynamic structure welded joint is prone to fatigue-failure due to repeated 107