Development of Load Rating Procedure for Railroad Flatcar Bridges through Use of Field Instrumentation. I: Data Collection and Analysis
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 19, Issue 5
Abstract
Because of budget constraints, many state and county highway agencies are often forced to develop innovative and economical replacement strategies for deteriorated bridges. One such option is to use a retired railroad flatcar (RRFC) for a bridge superstructure. Many states have found RRFCs to be successful and economical alternatives to more traditional structural systems. Although the performance of RRFCs has been satisfactory, there is little to no guidance in the AASHTO specifications for load rating these structures. Such inexperience has led some to take overly conservative approaches when rating these bridges. This paper, the first of two companion papers, presents the use of field instrumentation and controlled load testing on seven RRFC bridges located in Indiana. Stress data were used to gain an understanding of the in situ response of these structures, including global bending, secondary bending, and lateral load distribution. Proposed load rating guidelines presented in the second companion paper were developed using data from these load tests as well as other data found in the literature.
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Acknowledgments
This research was sponsored by the Indiana Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP). The authors appreciate the support of the Indiana county offices, specifically Clay, Fountain, and Vermillion counties for providing assistance and valuable knowledge with respect to railroad flatcar bridges. The authors also acknowledge the input from Dr. Robert Sweeney of Modjeski and Masters and Mr. John Unsworth of the Canadian Pacific Railroad, who shared their bridge engineering experience. The authors also thank Clark Dietz Engineers for sharing their experience regarding the load rating of railroad flatcar bridges in Indiana. Assistance from various students and staff of Bowen Laboratory at Purdue University is also much appreciated.
References
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 19 • Issue 5 • May 2014
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 30, 2013
Accepted: Sep 10, 2013
Published online: Sep 12, 2013
Published in print: May 1, 2014
Discussion open until: May 26, 2014
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