DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF HIGHWAY BRIDGES. FINAL REPORT

FROM STUDIES MADE ON THREE DIFFERENT BRIDGES, ONE STEEL, ONE CONCRETE AND ONE ALUMINIUM, THE AUTHORS REACHED THE FOLLOWING CONCLUSIONS. ALL THE BRIDGES WERE STIFFER THAN THE DESIGN CALCULATIONS ANTICIPATED. THE AASHO RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING THE LATERAL DISTRIBUTIONS OF THE LOAD APPEAR REASONABLY ACCURATE FOR INTERIOR GIRDERS BUT SEEM TO BE GROSSLY IN ERROR FOR THE BENDING MOMENTS OF EXTERIOR GIRDERS. THE ALUMINUM BRIDGE DISPLAYED AN UNEXPECTED, UNEXPLAINED CONTINUITY WHICH TENDED TO REDUCE STRESSES AND DEFLECTIONS. IT WAS DIFFICULT, IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO PRODUCE THE DESIGN STRESSES, EVEN WHEN THE TEST LOADS WERE CONCENTRATED NEAR MIDSPAN. THE MEASURED IMPACT PERCENTAGES WERE LOWER THAN THOSE ANTICIPATED FROM THE AASHO SPECIFICATIONS. THIS RESULT MAY BE DUE TO THE TEST VEHICLES USED, AS OTHER TRUCKS WITH DIFFERENT AXLE SPACINGS, WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION, SPEEDS, ETC., MIGHT PRODUCE OTHER RESULTS. NO GENERALIZATIONS COULD BE DRAWN FROM THE EXPERIMENTAL IMPACT RESULTS AS AN ANALYTICAL SOLUTION WOULD BE NEEDED AND IT IS NOT AVAILABLE. A SMOOTH RUNWAY ON THE ROAD WAY DECKS IS IMPERATIVE. /SOURCE/

• Corporate Authors:

  University of Maryland, College Park

  Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  College Park, MD  United States  20742
• Authors:
  • Reilly, R J
  • Looney, C T
• Publication Date: 1966-4

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aluminum; Bending moments; Concrete bridges; Dynamics; Girders; Highway bridges; Load tests; Load transfer; Metal bridges; Steel bridges; Testing equipment; Vehicles
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Highways; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00208242
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 110 pp
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Feb 22 1994 12:00AM