Truck Weight Limit for Simply Supported Steel Girder Bridges Based on Bridge Fatigue Reliability
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 31, Issue 6
Abstract
The objective of this study was to present a new approach for determining the truck weight limit of simply supported steel girder bridges. This approach is based on the fatigue reliability of bridge girders under the action of random traffic flows considering the presence of multiple trucks. A simply supported steel girder bridge designed according to the current codes was used as the bridge model to illustrate the presented approach. Based on the collected traffic data from Wisconsin, random traffic flows were generated using the Monte Carlo method and were used as the traffic loading. Numerical simulations were carried out to investigate the effects of three important parameters, including the fraction of traffic in the fast lane (), violation rate (), and truck weight limit (), on the average fatigue damage accumulation () induced by each truck in the random traffic flow. Based on the Miner’s cumulative damage model and the S-N curve, the effects of these parameters on the fatigue reliability index of bridge girders were also analyzed. The truck weight limit that can ensure the target fatigue reliability of the bridge girders after 75 years of service was determined based on the fatigue reliability analysis of the bridge girder.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51478176 and 51778222) and the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities through the Young Teacher Growth Plan of Hunan University (Grant No. 531107051014).
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Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 31 • Issue 6 • November 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 2, 2018
Accepted: Apr 13, 2018
Published online: Jul 6, 2018
Published in print: Nov 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Dec 6, 2018
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