A FRAMEWORK FOR FATIGUE ASSESSMENT OF STEEL TRUSS BRIDGES

The perpetual chase for economic growth through industrialisation of urban cities
demands continuous movement of people, raw materials and finished goods. For the
carriage of raw materials and finished goods, the final stage of transportation is often
through highways using heavy goods vehicles. Malaysia being a growing economy
with speedy industrialisation is faced with a surge in vehicular traffic. With the rise in
population of heavy goods vehicles and traffic volume, enforcement of legal load
limits has become more arduous for monitoring agencies. Thus, it is rampant for
heavy goods vehicle to be overloaded in both the Peninsula and East Malaysia, with
vehicles reported to be overloaded by up to 100% of their maximum allowable GVW.