Fatigue of Threaded Rods Subjected to Axial Load

Abstract

This thesis involves the investigation of threaded rods inserted into glulam elements subjected to axial forces imposed by traffic load in bridges. Fatigue of timber elements and connectors are generally investigated in a literature study. In addition, experimental tests were conducted investigating the behavior of this connection in both static and cyclic load application. This research was conducted to obtain a better understanding of the fatigue behaviour in threaded rods, and to compare with other solutions for connections in similar situations. A literature review was conducted on recent reports and relevant theory concerning fatigue. The information were processed and used to evaluate obtained experimental test results. Two different grain-to-rod angles were tested in static and cyclic load application (90˚ and 45˚ rod-to-grain angle). The number of tests were not sufficient to make any firm conclusions. However, there might be observations pointing to fatigue in withdrawal of these connections not becoming a problem. This is because the steel capacity of fatigue might prove to be the limiting value.