Extending Use of Steel-Laminated Elastomeric Bearings to Higher Demand Applications

Elastomeric bearings have historically been used on bridges with short to moderate spans. The resulting demand on the bearings is usually not very severe in terms of the necessary support reaction or the deformational requirements. The bearings have historically showed good behavior and as a result, there is a strong desire to use the bearings on higher demand applications with larger support reactions and more significant deformational requirements. Although longer span concrete bridges may be candidates for these higher demand applications, many steel girder systems such as tub girder systems are also good candidates for these applications. The necessary translational and rotational demands for these bridges are significant and the support reactions are much larger than bridges that have typically utilized elastomeric bearings. Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has utilized the bearings on some steel tub girders and although many of these bearings have behaved well, isolated bearings have shown significant distress in a relatively short period of time. Although in recent years, TxDOT has successfully used elastomeric pads in steel bridge applications, no full size tests on the large bearings have been conducted to demonstrate the ability of the bearings to satisfy the long-term performance requirements. In the absence of these tests, it is not clear if manufactures have the ability to consistently produce bearings for high demand applications. The research outlined in this proposal consists of laboratory testing, field monitoring, and parametric computational modeling that will provide the supporting data so that elastomeric bearings can be confidently used in the wide range of bridge applications throughout the state of Texas. The use of elastomeric bearings in steel bridge applications will result in systems that are easier to fabricate, erect, and maintain while also improving the long-term bridge behavior.

• Record URL:
  https://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/0-6785-1.pdf
• 
• Summary URL:
  https://library.ctr.utexas.edu/Presto/content/Detail.aspx?ctID=OWE3NjYzNTktYzJmNC00ZTAwLThmMjItYzhmNzNiYTFmNzdh&rID=MjY2ODc%3D&sID=MQ%3D%3D&qrs=VHJ1ZQ%3D%3D&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NewestTxdotResearch+%28New+TxDOT+Research+Publications+%28Feed%29%29
• Summary URL:
  https://library.ctr.utexas.edu/ctr-publications/psr/0-6785-s.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Report Date October 2015; Published June 2016.
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Texas, Austin

  Center for Transportation Research, 1616 Guadalupe Street
  Austin, TX  United States  78701-1255

  Texas Department of Transportation

  Research and Technology Implementation Office, P.O. Box 5080
  Austin, TX  United States  78763-5080

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Belivanis, Konstantinos Victor
  • Han, Liwei
  • Sun, Cong
  • Helwig, Todd
  • Engelhardt, Michael
  • Tassoulas, John
  • Williamson, Eric
• Publication Date: 2015-10

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 184p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bridge bearings; Deformation; Elastomers; Field studies; Finite element method; Girder bridges; Laboratory tests; Steel bridges
• Geographic Terms: Texas
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01603586
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA/TX-16/0-6785-1, 0-6785-1
• Contract Numbers: 0-6785
• Files: TRIS, ATRI, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jun 28 2016 4:41PM