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Kentucky Bridges With High-Strength Quenched And Tempered Steel, Theodore Hopwood Ii, Jared Fairchild

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) has several bridges employing high-strength quenched and tempered (QT) steels. In the past several decades, weld and corrosion cracking problems have occurred with QT steel in three KYTC bridges. This material has typically been employed on large bridges in fracture-critical members which increases the concern about these steels. This study was performed to review the KYTC steel bridge inventory and identify bridges/structural member containing QT steels. The list consisted of any KYTC maintained bridge with an individual span greater than 150 feet. KTC used this list to identify each bridge and members containing QT steel. …