Quality control and fatigue design of friction stir welded joints in aluminum bridge decks

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Highway authorities in North America are currently faced with significant and pressing bridge maintenance costs. A recent industry report on aluminum use in bridges found light weight decks for new bridges and rehabilitation projects to be an application area with particular promise. A subsequent economic study concluded that: 1) bridge decks are an application where aluminum clearly has a potential for market growth, and 2) friction stir welding (FSW) represents a transformative technology, which could have a significant influence on the durability and economics of aluminum bridge decks. A design code for structural FSW joints does not yet exist in Canada. Existing international codes (e.g. ISO, AWS) include quality control provisions based on "best practice", which have not yet been related to structural performance.