Nonstructural Evaluation of Competing Bridge Materials
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 8, Issue 2
Abstract
Engineers are faced with choosing materials for bridges on a regular basis. Yet, little is known of the nonstructural factors that influence their decision and what they believe is important in bridge-material selection. As new materials enter the market for bridge applications, a thorough understanding of a highway official's current perceptions of materials will allow manufacturers to meet their needs better. Perceptions of major bridge materials by three distinct groups of decision makers were investigated within five geographic regions of the United States. The materials compared included prestressed concrete, steel, timber, and reinforced concrete. Bridge materials were compared not only on perceived performance, but also on eight preselected attributes. Important factors in the bridge decision process were identified. Comparisons were made by decision-making group and geographic region. Overall, prestressed concrete was rated highest in perceived performance, followed by reinforced concrete, steel, and timber. Perceptional maps provide insight for those manufacturers wanting to improve their perceived performance. Areas of future research for bridge materials were identified.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
American consulting engineers council directory. (1993). Washington, D.C.
2.
Brungraber, R., Gutkowski, R., William, K., and McWilliams, R. (1987). “Timber bridges: part of the solution for rural America.”Transp. Res. Rec. 1106, Transp. Res. Board, Washington, D.C., 131–139.
3.
Cheney, R. (1986). “Decaying bridges teach a valuable lesson.”Public Works, (Aug.), 50–52.
4.
Comrey, A., and Lee, H. (1992). A first course in factor analysis . Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Hillsdale, N.J.
5.
Dickson, J.(1974). “Use of semantic differentials in developing product marketing strategies.”Forest Product J., 24(6), 12–16.
6.
Dickson, B., and GangaRao, H. (1989). “Field monitoring of a stressed timber bridge over Elk Tow-mile Creek, West Virginia.”Conf. on Bridges: Proc., 6th Annu. Int. Bridge Conf., 247–252.
7.
Dunker, K., and Rabbat, B.(1992). “Performance of prestressed concrete highway bridges in the United States—the first 40 years.”PCI J., 37(3), 49.
8.
Federal Highway Administration (FHwA). (1992). National bridge inventory data . U.S. Dept. of Transp., Washington, D.C.
9.
Green, P., and Carmone, F. (1970). Multidemensional scaling and related techniques in marketing analysis . Allyn and Bacon Inc., Boston, Mass.
10.
Johnson, R. (1970). “Market segmentation: a strategic management tool.”J. Marketing Res., (Feb.), 13–18.
11.
Lehmann, D., and O'Shaughnessy, J. (1974). “Difference in attribute importance for different industrial products.”J. of Marketing, 38(April), 36–42.
12.
Moody, R., Ritter, M., and GangaRao, H. (1990). “Application of wood materials for innovative bridge systems.”Proc., 1st Mat. Engrg. Congr., ASCE, New York, N.Y., Vol. 1, 423–432.
13.
Ritter, M. (1990). Timber bridges: design, construction, inspection and maintenance. U.S. Dept. of Agr. (USDA) Forest Service, Washington, D.C.
14.
Stevens, J. (1986). Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences . LEA Publishers, Hillsdale, N.J.
15.
Taylor, R., Batchelor, B., and Van Dalen, K. (1983). “Prestressed wooden bridges.”Rep., SRR-83-01, Ministry of Transp. and Communications, Downsview, Ont., Canada.
16.
Trinka, M., Sinclair, S., and Marcin, T.(1992). “Determinant attribute analysis: a tool for new product development.”Wood and Fiber Sci., 24(4), 385–391.
17.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). (1989). “Rural bridges: an assessment based upon the national bridge inventory.”Transp. Rep., Washington, D.C.
18.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). (1993). “The national timber bridge initiative.”A Status Rep., USDA Forest Service, Washington, D.C., 7.
19.
U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT). (1989). “The status of the nation's highways and bridges: conditions and performance, and highway bridge replacement and rehabilitation program.”Rep., Secretary of Transp., U.S. Gov. Printing Ofc., Washington, D.C., 98–815.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 8 • Issue 2 • May 1996
Pages: 88 - 93
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: May 1, 1996
Published in print: May 1996
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.