Abstract
This paper presents load models for quantifying the effect of historical rail traffic on the remaining fatigue life of riveted bridges in the UK. Three types of load models, based on realistic trains, accounting for differences in rail traffic composition, are developed and subsequently used for investigating their effect on the accumulation of fatigue damage in typical old metallic bridge structures. The overall findings show that the increase within train axle loads from 1900 to 2010 is the main attributor to the significant increase in fatigue damage caused from the modern trains compared to the residual fatigue damage from the historic trains. These findings are particularly relevant to the majority of existing metallic rail bridges on the rail network, which are known to have a span length less than 10 m. These findings show the importance of considering the effects of historical loading for more reliable fatigue assessment purposes, leading towards more efficient planning of bridge maintenance and renewal programmes.