ANALYTICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF A THROUGH TRUSS BRIDGE

THE REPORT PRESENTS THE RESULTS OF A FIELD TEST ON A THROUGH TRUSS BRIDGE. BOTH STATIC AND MOVING LOAD TESTS WERE MADE, BUT ONLY STATIC TEST RESULTS ARE PRESENTED. THE BRIDGE WAS INSTRUMENTED WITH NUMEROUS STRAIN AND DEFLECTION GAGES ON THE MAIN TRUSS MEMBERS AS WELL AS ON FLOORBEAMS, STRINGERS, AND ON THE CONCRETE DECK. PREVIOUSLY DEVELOPED ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES WERE USED TO RELATE THEORETICAL AND DESIGN ASSUMPTIONS TO MEASURED STRAINS AND DEFLECTIONS. IN ONE TECHNIQUE, THE TRUSS WAS ANALYZED AS AN ORTHOTROPIC PLATE. THE PLATE EQUATIONS WERE SOLVED USING A FINITE DIFFERENCE METHOD. VARIOUS CHANGES IN THE ACTUAL BRIDGE CONFIGURATION HAD TO BE MADE IN ORDER TO BE COMPATIBLE WITH CERTAIN LIMITATIONS OF THE ANALYTICAL METHOD. IN GENERAL, MEASURED STRAINS IN THE BOTTOM OF STRINGERS COMPARED FAVORABLY WITH ANALYTICAL VALUES, BUT ANALYTICAL FLOORBEAM STRAINS, ALTHOUGH HAVING IN GENERAL THE SAME DISTRIBUTION SHAPE, WERE APPRECIABLY LOWER THAN CORRESPONDING MEASURED VALUES. ANALYTICAL AND MEASURED DEFLECTIONS HAD BETTER AGREEMENT. MEASURED STRAINS AND DEFLECTIONS WERE ALWAYS MUCH LOWER THAN DESIGN VALUES. /BPR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Hpr-1/2/, AW-67-64-46
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Maryland, College Park

  Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
  College Park, MD  United States  20742
• Authors:
  • Svotelis, R A
  • Heins, C P
  • Looney, CTG
• Publication Date: 1967-6

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Deflection tests; Dynamic loads; Field tests; Finite differences; Orthotropic; Plate bearing test; Static loads; Strain gages; Strain measurement; Truss bridges
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00207839
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Bureau of Public Roads /US
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 5 1994 12:00AM