FIELD STUDY OF AN INTEGRAL BACKWALL BRIDGE

Integral bridges offer reduced maintenance expenditures, primarily due to the elimination of deck expansion joints. The design of an integral bridge, however, is complicated by the soil-structure interaction associated with thermal movements. It has been widely recognized that more data on the actual stresses and their distribution within the structure are needed for an optimal design. Current integral designs are often conservative and based on empirical values. This study is an analysis of an integral backwall bridge which was instrumented during construction and monitored for 2.5 years. Field instrumentation included strain gages, temperature probes and earth pressure cells. Data were collected continuously using electronic dataloggers. The results demonstrate a satisfactory performance of the structure; however, some maintenance problems associated with excessive approach settlement were observed. Soil pressures exerted on the back of the integral backwall showed significant daily variation as a result of ambient air temperature fluctuation.

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• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/19445
• Corporate Authors:

  Virginia Transportation Research Council

  530 Edgemont Road
  Charlottesville, VA  United States  22903

  Virginia Department of Transportation

  Office of Public Affairs, 1221 East Broad Street
  Richmond, VA  United States  23219

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Hoppe, E J
  • Gomez, J P
• Publication Date: 1996-10

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; References;
• Pagination: 51 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Atmospheric temperature; Bridge approaches; Bridge design; Bridges; Data collection; Earth pressure; Field studies; Information, data, and knowledge; Instrumentation; Monitoring; Performance evaluations; Settlement (Structures); Soil structure interaction; Structural design
• Uncontrolled Terms: Integral bridges
• Old TRIS Terms: Electronic data logging; Soil pressures
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Data and Information Technology; Design; Highways; I24: Design of Bridges and Retaining Walls;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00734555
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA/VA-97-R7, Final Report, VTRC 97-R7
• Files: NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Mar 11 1997 12:00AM