DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF HIGHWAY BRIDGES-PROGRESS REPORT, TESTING AND DATA REDUCTION,/SYKESVILLE/

THE REPORT DESCRIBES THE TESTING, DATA REDUCTION AND TO A LIMITED EXTENT PRESENTS RESULTS OF A FIELD TEST OF AN ALUMINUM HIGHWAY BRIDGE LOCATED NEAR SYKESVILLE, MARYLAND. THE TEST STRUCTURE, A 93 FT LONG SIMPLY SUPPORTED BRIDGE, IS COMPRISED OF FIVE HOLLOW TRIANGULAR BEAM UNITS FABRICATED FROM STRUCTURAL ALUMINUM PLATING AND STIFFENING MEMBERS. THE BEAM UNITS WERE MOUNTED ON THEIR INVERTED APICES AND FIELD CONNECTED AT THEIR UPPER CORNERS. A BOTTOM PLATE TIES THE BEAM UNITS TOGETHER, FORMING A SEMI-MONOCOQUE /STRESSED-SHEET/ STRUCTURE OF THE TYPE WIDELY USED IN THE AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY. THE BEAM UNITS ARE CAPPED WITH A LIGHTWEIGHT CONCRETE SLAB DESIGNED TO ACT COMPOSITELY WITH THEM. THE BRIDGE WAS INSTRUMENTED WITH STRAIN AND DEFLECTION GAGES WHOSE OUTPUT WAS CONTINUOUSLY MONITORED BY DYNAMIC STRAIN RECORDING EQUIPMENT. TESTING CONSISTED OF DRIVING A THREE AXLE TRACTOR-TRAILER COMBINATION, LOADED TO SIMULATE H20-S16 DESIGN LOADING, ACROSS THE BRIDGE AT VARIOUS SPEEDS AND LATERAL POSITIONS. DATA REDUCTION WAS ACCOMPLISHED WITH A MINIMUM OF MANUAL MEASUREMENT USING A DIGITAL DATA READER, KEYPUNCH AND A DIGITAL COMPUTER SYSTEM. RESULTS OF THE FIRST OF THREE SERIES OF TESTS ARE PRESENTED IN TABLES AS STRAINS AND DEFLECTIONS FOR VARIOUS LOADING COMBINATIONS. SOME COMPARISONS OF LATERAL LOAD DISTRIBUTION WITH VEHICLE POSITION, VELOCITY VS. STRAINS AND DEFLECTIONS, AND VEHICLE VELOCITY VS. SEMI-AMPLITUDES OF MOTION ARE PRESENTED AS GRAPHS. HOWEVER, THE MAIN PORTION OF THE REPORT DEALS WITH THE TEST DESCRIPTION AND DATA REDUCTION. /BPR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Hpr-1/1/,paRT2, 14
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Maryland, College Park

  Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
  College Park, MD  United States  20742
• Authors:
  • Reilly, R J
  • Guardia, G
  • Looney, C T
• Publication Date: 1964-11

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aluminum; Behavior; Data reduction; Deflection tests; Digital computers; Dynamic loads; Dynamic tests; Dynamics; Field tests; Graphics; Highway bridges; Strain gages; Strain measurement; Testing; Vehicles; Velocity
• Uncontrolled Terms: Dynamic characteristics; Graphical analysis
• Geographic Terms: Sykesville (Maryland)
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Highways; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00207759
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 1 1994 12:00AM