Screening Tool to Assess Adequacy of Bridge Pile Bents During Extreme Flood/Scour Events

Using steel HP piles driven to a firm stratum with an above ground length up to bridge superstructure concrete bent cap support level in Alabama highway bridges is a common bridge construction and design procedure. Very common bridge pile bents use three, four, five, or six such piles in a row with two battered end piles. The Alabama Department of Transportation recently developed for its engineers a "screening tool" to help assess bridge pile bent adequacy for extreme flood/scour events because of pile bent substructure standardized design tendencies and the state's large number of bridges. The sequence for the screening tool evaluation procedure, which the authors present in both micro and macrofloodchart form, basically is: general or preliminary checks on factors such as scour possibility when a bridge bent is located in water; checking for possible plunging failure or "kick-out" in bent piles; checking for possible bent pile buckling failure; and checking for, from combined flood water and gravity loadings, transverse pushover bent failure, when transverse status is to bridge centerline. Improvement, simplification, capability expansion, and automation are currently underway on the dynamic screening tool.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/10840680
• Authors:
  • Ramey, George E
  • Brown, Dan A
  • Hughes, Mary L
  • Hughes, Doug
  • Daniels, Joslyn
• Publication Date: 2007-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Print
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 109-121
• Serial:
  • Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
  • Volume: 12
  • Issue Number: 2
  • Publisher: American Society of Civil Engineers
  • ISSN: 1084-0680
  • Serial URL: http://ascelibrary.org/loi/ppscfx

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bents; Floods; Highway bridges; Piles (Supports); Scour; Tools
• Identifier Terms: Alabama Department of Transportation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Adequacy; Screening tests
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Highways; Hydraulics and Hydrology; I24: Design of Bridges and Retaining Walls;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01049897
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 9 2007 1:15PM