Many old riveted railway bridges are replaced too soon due to a general lack of knowledge about the expected life span . This indicates the need for more information on fatigue and brittle fracture of riveted bridges . This book unveils extensive research and literature results on riveted bridges fatigue live and shows how to take fatigue properly onto account when deciding about the future service life of a riveted railway bridges . It deals with the expected fatigue live. level of stress ranges by traffice , effect of temperature and ageing , loading histories , crack detection , other defects , repair and providing proper instructions and more . Intended for structural bridge and steel construction engineers .