Rivet clamping force of as-built hot-riveted connections in steel bridges

Hot-riveted connections have been widely used in the past for metallic bridges, of which a large part is still in service, making relevant the assessment of their fatigue life. Previous studies have shown that the fatigue behavior of hot-riveted connections depends on many factors; among these, the residual tensile force in the rivets that clamps the plates together, i.e. the clamping force, is one of the most prone to uncertainty and scatter....