Advanced Bridge Capacity and Structural Integrity Assessment Methodology
Abstract
The bridge is a basic element of all surface transportation networks. In military theaters of operation, transportation routes that cross bridges are essential for deploying personnel, supplies, and heavy equipment, as well as for facilitating communications. It is essential that the structural capacity of each bridge along a military route be assessed in order to avoid overloading the bridge or unnecessarily hindering military operations by overestimating or underestimating its capacity. For reinforced concrete structures, information about the number, size, and orientation of steel reinforcement is necessary to make a strength assessment. Since reinforcement is not visible externally, making an accurate assessment without design drawings is extremely difficult. The objective of this project was to develop more reliable means of in-field capacity assessment of reinforced concrete bridges by making improved estimates of the level of longitudinal and shear reinforcement. The proposed assessment procedure is based on comparing measured structural response under controlled loading conditions to predicted structural response from analysis. This report presents results from a preliminary sensitivity study of the analytically predicted response of simply supported reinforced concrete T-beam girders that have varying levels of longitudinal and shear reinforcement.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA582970
Entities
People
- Billie F. Spencer
- Daniel A. Kuchma
- James Wilcoski
- Lawrence A. Bergman
- Matthew B. Gries
- Ryan K. Giles
Organizations
- Engineer Research and Development Center