Analysis and Load Testing of Two Steel Through Truss Bridges in Indiana : Final Report

258 Pages·1996·5.3 MB·English

by  Malone, Brian Joseph

SCHOOL OF
ENGINEERING
CIVIL
INDIANA
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
JOINT HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROJECT
FHWA/IN/JHRP-96/3
Final Report
ANAYLSIS AND LOAD TESTING OF TWO STEEL
THROUGH TRUSS BRIDGES IN INDIANA
Brian J. Malone
Mark A. Heffron
Julio A. Ramirez
Donald W. White
tea
'9
(V
UNIVERSITY

FinalReport
ANALYSIS AND LOAD TESTING
OF
TWO STEEL THROUGH TRUSS BRIDGES ININDIANA:
BRIDGE STRUCTURENO. 58-14-3244
AND
BRIDGE STRUCTURENO. 46-11-1316
Brian J. Malone
Mark A. Heflron
Julio A. Ramirez
Donald W. White
Purdue University
Joint HighwayResearchProject
ProjectNo HPR-2100
:
FileNo: 7-4-35
Conducted in Cooperationwith the
IndianaDepartment ofTransportation
and
Federal Highway Administration
Thecontents ofthis report reflect the views ofthe authorswho are responsible for the facts
and the accuracy ofthe data presented herein. The contents do not necessarily reflect the
officialviewsorpoliciesoftheFederal Highway Administration and the IndianaDepartment
ofTransportation. This report doesnot constitute a standard, specification orregulation.
Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN47907
September 11, 1996
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2011 with funding from
LYRASIS members and Sloan Foundation; Indiana Department of Transportation
http://www.archive.org/details/analysisloadtestOOmalo
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks are extended to the advisory committee members, Joe Torkos, Brett
Safewright, Wesley Billups, Larry O'Donnell, Firooz Zandi, and Jaffar Golkhajeh.
Appreciation is expressed to the Federal Highway Administration and the Indiana
Department ofTransportationthroughthe Joint Highway Research Project for providing the
funding for this study.

TECHNICALREPORTSTANDARDTITLEPAGE
1. ReportNo. 2. GovernmentAccessionNo. 3.Recipient'sCatalogNo.
FHWA/IN/JHRP-96/3
4.TitleandSubtitle 5. ReportDate
September11, 1996
AnalysisandLoadTestingofTwoSteelThroughTrussBridgesinIndiana
6. PerformingOrganizationCode
7.Author(s) 8. PerformingOrganization ReportNo.
BrianJ.Malone,MarieA.Heffron,JulioA.Ramirez,DonaldW.White FHWA/IN/JHRP-96/3
9. PerformingOrganizationNameandAddress 10.WorkUnitNo.
JointHighwayResearchProject
CivilEngineeringBuilding
PurdueUniversity 11. ContractorGrantNo.
WestLafayette,Indiana 47907-1284 HPR-2100
12. SponsoringAgencyNam*andAddress 13. TypeofReportandPeriodCovered
FinalReport
IndianaDepartmentofTransportation ExecutiveSummary
StateOfficeBuilding November1, 1993-May1, 1996
1000NorthSenateAvenue
Indianapolis,IN46204 14. SponsoringAgencyCode
15. SupplementaryNotes
16. Abstract
ResultsoftheloadtestsoftwosteelthroughtrussbridgeswereusedtoevaluatetheassumptionsusedbyBARSfortheratingofthistypeofbridge.Basedonthe
resultsfromthisstudyitisrecommendedthattheIndianaDepartmentofTransportationusetheloaddistributionfactorsinthe1994LRFDSpecificationsinthe
ratingofthesebridges.ThiswillimplyreplacingtheloaddistributionfactorscurrentlyusedinBARS.
Theimplementationofthenewdistributionfactorswillresultinalessconservativeratingofthelongitudinalbeamsinthistypeofbridge.Theincreaseinthe
allowedmomentsforthegirdersmayleadtothetrussmemberscontrollingtheratingofthebridge.Theexperimentalresultsfromthisstudyshowthatthecurrent
methodsandassumptionsadequatelypredictthecapacitiesofthetrussmembers.
17. Keywords 18. DistributionStatement
structuralperformance,deflections,truss,bridge,loadtest,rating Norestrictions. ThisdocumentisavailabletothepublicthroughtheNational
TechnicalInformationService,Virginia,22161
19. SecurityClassit(ofthisreport) 20. SecurityClassif.(ofthispage) 21.No.of Pages 22. Price
Unclassified Unclassified 224
FormDOTF1700.7(8-69)

Analysis and Load Testing ofTwo Steel Through Truss Bridges in Indiana
Implementation Report
Results of the load tests of two steel through truss bridges were used to evaluate the
assumptions used byBARS forthe rating ofthis type ofbridge. Based on the results from this study
it is recommended that the Indiana Department ofTransportation use the load distribution factors
in the 1994 LRFD Specifications in the rating ofthese bridges. This will imply replacing the load
distribution factors currently used in BARS.
The implementation ofthe new distribution factors will result in a less conservative rating
ofthe longitudinal beams in this type ofbridge. The increase in the allowed moments for the girders
may lead to the truss members controlling the rating ofthe bridge. The experimental results from
this study show that the current methods and assumptions adequately predict the capacities ofthe
truss members.