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 life and shows how to take fatigue properly into account when deciding about the future service life of a riveted railway bridge. It deals with the expected fatigue life, level of stress ranges by traffic, effect of temperature and aging, loading histories, crack detection, loose rivets, other...