WHEEL LOAD DISTRIBUTION IN CONCRETE BOX GIRDER BRIDGES

AN IMPROVED DESIGN METHOD WAS DEVELOPED FOR DETERMINING THE WHEEL LOAD DISTRIBUTION IN MULTI-CELLED NON-SKEW BOX GIRDER BRIDGES. THE BASIC APPROACH USED WAS TO ANALYZE A LARGE NUMBER OF SELECTED TYPICAL BOX GIRDER BRIDGES TO DETERMINE ANALYTICAL VALUES FOR THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF WHEEL LOADS TAKEN BY EACH GIRDER LOADED BY STANDARD HS 20-44 TRUCKS IN CRITICAL POSITIONS. THE TYPICAL BRIDGES ANALYZED INCLUDED, (1) VARIATIONS IN THE IMPORTANT PARAMETERS AFFECTING LOAD DISTRIBUTION SUCH AS: SPAN, TOTAL WIDTH, NUMBER OF LANES, NUMBER OF CELLS, CELL WIDTH (WEB SPACING), AND (2) FIXITY AT THE SUPPORTS. IN ALL, THE RESULTS FROM ABOUT 120 SEPARATE COMPUTER ANALYSES OF BOX GIRDER BRIDGES UNDER DIFFERENT LOADINGS WERE USED IN THE STUDY. BASED ON THESE RESULTS, A DESIGN METHOD FOR WHEEL LOAD DISTRIBUTION WAS DEVELOPED WHICH IS BELIEVED TO REPRESENT MORE ACCURATELY THE TRUE DESIGN LOADS TO BE CARRIED BY EACH GIRDER OF A GIVEN BRIDGE, THAN DOES THE PRESENT METHOD OF DESIGN. A DESIGN EXAMPLE IS PRESENTED OF A 60FT THREE-CELL SIMPLY SUPPORTED BOX GIRDER BRIDGE. COMPARISONS ARE MADE WITH THE ACCURATE METHOD, SIMPLIFIED METHOD, AND THE PRESENT AASHO METHOD. IT IS SHOWN THAT THE PRESENT AASHO METHOD DIFFERS IN SOME INSTANCES FROM THE ACCURATE METHOD BY AS MUCH AS 15% ON THE UNCONSERVATIVE SIDE. /BPR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Hpr-pr-1 (6), D-4-53
• Corporate Authors:

  California Division of Highways

  Bridge Department
  Sacramento, CA  United States  05914

  University of California, Berkeley

  Berkeley, CA  United States  94720

  Bureau of Public Roads /US

  400 7th Street, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Scordelis, A C
  • Meyer, C
• Publication Date: 1969-1

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Box girders; Bridge design; Bridges; Concrete; Concrete bridges; Design load; Girder bridges; Information processing; Structural analysis; Structural design; Trucks; Wheel loads
• Identifier Terms: AASHO Road Test
• Uncontrolled Terms: Wheel load distribution
• Old TRIS Terms: Concrete box girders
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Highways; Motor Carriers;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00207909
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Bureau of Public Roads /US
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 22 1994 12:00AM