Structural Analysis of a Stress-Laminated-Timber Bridge Deck Using Hardwood
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 26, Issue 3
Abstract
The abundance of wood in Brazil combined with the advantages of its use has lead to many studies focusing on optimizing the application of this raw material. In particular, stress-laminated-timber decks are an alternative to conventional building materials for short- to medium-span bridges, and its advantages include low weight and excellent flexibility that enable a high prefabrication rate and quick assembly on site. In order to make the best use of wood, this work studies the behavior of a stress-laminated-timber bridge deck using hardwoods. In brief, three different species were used as laminates, which with the prestress effect made it really difficult to have optimal precision in the numerical analysis, then resulting in higher displacements than those from the tests in almost all comparisons. However, the results of the experimental and numerical displacements followed the same pattern and linearity with reasonable values and low deflections, which demonstrates that the system worked as an orthotropic plate equivalent to the same deck system constructed out of conifers, as widely used in North America for such structures. Further research should be performed with one species only, so that even better results could be found.
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Acknowlegments
This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil (CAPES)—Finance Code 001.
Disclaimer
The authors declare that they are responsible for all content including text, images, tables, and others.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- C11
- stiffness in the plane 1 and 1;
- C12
- stiffness in the plane 1 and 2;
- C21
- stiffness in the plane 2 and 1;
- C22
- stiffness in the plane 2 and 2;
- C66
- stiffness;
- Ex
- modulus of elasticity in direction x;
- Ey
- modulus of elasticity in direction y;
- F
- force of prestressing load (kN);
- Gxy
- shear modulus or transverse elastic modulus in the plane x and y;
- G66
- shear modulus or transverse elastic modulus;
- L
- length (m);
- S11
- flexibility in the plane 1 and 1;
- S12
- flexibility in the plane 1 and 2;
- S21
- flexibility in the plane 2 and 1;
- S22
- flexibility in the plane 2 and 2;
- S66
- flexibility;
- Vyz
- coefficient of Poisson;
- X
- bar reading (×10−6 cm/cm);
- Y
- load cell reading(N);
- α
- torsional parameter;
- γxy
- vector of tension in the plane x and y;
- ɛ
- reduced vector of deformations;
- ɛx
- vector of deformations in direction x;
- ɛy
- vector of deformations in direction y;
- θ
- flexural parameter;
- σ
- reduced vector of normal stress;
- σx
- vector of normal stress in direction y;
- σy
- vector of normal stress in direction y; and
- τxy
- vector of shear stress in the plane x and y.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 26 • Issue 3 • March 2021
Copyright
© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 21, 2019
Accepted: Aug 27, 2020
Published online: Jan 11, 2021
Published in print: Mar 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Jun 11, 2021
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