TRB's National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 354: Inspection and Management of Bridges with Fracture-Critical Details explores the inspection and maintenance of bridges with fracture-critical members (FCMs), as defined in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' Load and Resistance Factor Design (LRFD) Bridge Design Specifications. The report identifies gaps in literature related to the subject; determines practices and problems with how bridge owners define, identify, document, inspect, and manage bridges with fracture-critical details; and identifies specific research needs. Among the areas examined in the report are inspection frequencies and procedures; methods for calculating remaining fatigue life; qualification, availability, and training of inspectors; cost of inspection programs; instances where inspection programs prevented failures; retrofit techniques; fabrication methods and inspections; and experience with fracture-critical members fractures and problems details.

This compendium, compiled by two senior engineers from TWI, draws together information from more than 150 individual specifications, covering national, international and industrial toughness requirements for ferritic materials. It covers applications such as pressure vessels, storage tanks, offshore structures, shipping, bridges and pipelines. The data contained in the compendium are derived from over 100 different sources, many of which are not readily available. The book has been designed as a reference source for structural, mechanical, metallurgical and project engineers concerned with structural integrity of welded plant, and will be of especial value to those working in the nuclear, petrochemical and offshore industries.

"This report contains the findings of a study that was performed to establish the variablity of Chappy V-notch (CVN) impact toughness within plates of A572 Grade 50 and A588 steels. The study included plate thickness up to 4 inches meeting AASHTO Zone 3 fracture notch toughness requirements. Both existing literature and the results of research conducted for this study were examined in an attempt to define the variablity in CVN values. The report provides a comprehensive description of the research, including a discussion of the statistical analysis methods used, along with recommended revisions to the AASHTO Guide Specifications for Fracture Critical Non-Redundant Steel Bridge Members. The proposed revisions are intended to provide a reasonable certainty of safe and effective performance of steel plate with respect to toughness. The contents of this report will be of immediate interest and use to bridge engineers, materials engineers, steel bridge fabrication, specification writing bodies, researchers, and others concerned with the design and fabrication of steel bridge elements." --from foreword.

Emphasizes applications of fracture mechanics to prevent fracture and fatigue failures in structures, rather than the theoretical aspects of fracture mechanics. The concepts of driving force and resistance force are used to differentiate between the mathematical side and the materials side. Case studies of actual failures are new to the third edition. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR