Effect of Local Damage Caused by Overweight Trucks on the Durability of Steel Bridges
Publication: Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 30, Issue 1
Abstract
Over the lifetime of a bridge, traffic loads cause numerous stress-strain cycles within its components which in turn lead to the slow accumulation of damage in them. The rate of progression of this damage with time is affected by several human-induced and natural factors such as volume and type of traffic loads, environmental conditions, and maintenance practices. Traffic volume and truck weights have been steadily increasing with the growth and technical development of the freight industry. With increased truck weight limits being anticipated in the future, a detailed study of the potential detrimental effects of such increases, especially due to overweight trucks, on the durability of bridges has become necessary. In this paper, a computational approach is presented to assess the effect of different load-related and environmental factors on the durability of steel bridge components using detailed finite-element (FE) models that were calibrated using data from inspection reports of real bridges. It is shown that this computational approach, with certain assumptions, is capable of quantifying the damage due to loading and environmental factors. This approach is also used to study different scenarios of how this damage could potentially affect the life of steel bridge components as loading and environmental conditions are varied. Results from the research reported in this paper show that the effect of increasing trucks weight limits on these bridges can be quantified and used to generate deterioration curves for the various bridge components. This information can also be used by highway agencies to streamline bridge maintenance and operations.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This paper was supported in part by the Joint Transportation Research Program (JTRP) administered by the INDOT and Purdue. The authors would like to thank all individuals associated with both of these organizations for making the research reported in this paper possible; and thanks to all of the members of the project’s study advisory committee, including Victor Hong, Merril Dougherty, Ronald McCaslin, Edward Pollack, Anne Rearick, George Snyder, Bill Dittrich, Badar Khan, Samy Noureldin, Guy Boruff, Autumn Young, Raju Iyer, and Dick Hayworth, and the senior personnel, including Samuel Labi and Robert Connor, for their guidance and assisting with data collection.
References
AASHTO. (2012). AASHTO LRFD bridge design specifications, U.S. customary units, 6th Ed., Washington, DC.
ABAQUS 6.11 [Computer software]. Providence, RI, Dassault SystŁmes.
Albrecht, P., and Hall, T., Jr. (2003). “Atmospheric corrosion resistance of structural steels.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng., 15(1), 2–24.
Albrecht, P., and Naeemi, A. H. (1984). “Performance of weathering steel in bridges.”, Washington, DC.
ANSYS 10.0 [Computer software]. Canonsburg, PA, Ansys.
ASTM. (2004). “Standard specification for high-strength low-alloy columbium-vanadium structural steel.” A572/A572M, West Conshohocken, PA.
Canna, T. L., and Bowman, M. D. (2002). “Fatigue behavior of beam diaphragm connections with intermittent fillet welds, part I, volume 1, field evaluation.”, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN.
Dassault Systèmes. (2011). “ABAQUS/standard version 6.11 user’s manuals.” Providence, RI.
Downing, S. D., and Socie, D. F. (1982). “Simple rainflow counting algorithms.” Int. J. Fatigue, 4(1), 31–40.
Fisher, J. W., Kulak, G. L., and Smith, I. F. C. (1998). A fatigue primer for structural engineers, AISC, Chicago.
Guo, T., Frangopol, D. M., and Chen, Y. (2012). “Fatigue reliability assessment of steel bridge details integrating weigh-in-motion data and probabilistic finite element analysis.” Comput. Struct., 112–113, 245–257.
Gylltoft, K. (1983). “Fracture mechanics models for fatigue in concrete structures.” Ph.D. thesis, Tekniska högskolan i Luleå, Luleå, Sweden.
Hu, N., Haider, S. W., and Burgueno, R. (2013). “Development and validation of deterioration models for concrete bridge decks, phase 2: Mechanics-based degradation models.”, Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI.
Indiana Department of Transportation. (2010). “Bridge inspection manual.” Indianapolis, IN, 〈http://www.in.gov/dot/div/contracts/standards/bridge/inspector_manual/〉 (Sep. 17, 2014).
Indiana DOT (INDOT). (2012). “Traffic zones.” 〈http://dotmaps.indot.in.gov/apps/trafficcounts/〉 (Sep. 17, 2014).
Johansson, U. (2004). Fatigue tests and analysis of reinforced concrete bridge deck models, Institutionen för byggvetenskap, Kungl, Tekniska högskolan, Stockholm, Sweden.
Kachanov, L. (1958). “Time of the rupture process under creep conditions.” TVZ Akad. Nauk. SSR. Otd. Tech. Nauk, (8), 26–31.
Kachanov, L. (1986). Introduction to continuum damage mechanics, Springer, New York.
Kayser, J., and Nowak, A. (1989). “Reliability of corroded steel girder bridges.” Struct. Saf., 6(1), 53–63.
Kepaptsoglou, K., Sinha, K. C., and Woods, R. E. (2000). An operational manual for the Indiana bridge management system, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN.
Komp, M. E. (1987). “Atmospheric corrosion ratings of weathering steels-calculations and significance.” Mater. Perform., 26(7), 42–44.
Miner, M. A. (1945). “Cumulative damage in fatigue.” J. Appl. Mech., 12(3), A159–A164.
NBI. (2011). “National bridge inventory database.” Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DC, 〈http://nationalbridges.com/〉.
Pascual, F. G., and Meeker, W. Q. (1999). “Estimating fatigue curves with the random fatigue-limit model.” Technometrics, 41(4), 277–289.
SAP2000 7.44 [Computer software]. Walnut Creek, CA, Computers and Structures.
Saydam, D., and Frangopol, D. M. (2011). “Time-dependent performance indicators of damaged bridge superstructures.” Eng. Struct., 33(9), 2458–2471.
Sinha, K. C., Labi, S., McCullouch, B., Bhargava, A., and Bai, Q. (2009). “Updating and enhancing the Indiana bridge management system (IBMS).”, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN.
Transportation for America (TFA). (2013). 〈http://t4america.org/maps-tools/bridges/〉 (Sep. 17, 2014).
TRB. (1990). “Truck weight limits: Issues and options.”, Committee for the Truck Weight Study, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Wardhana, K., and Hadipriono, F. C. (2003). “Analysis of recent bridge failures in the U.S.” J. Perform. Constr. Facil., 144–150.
Wood, S., Akinci, N., Liu, J., and Bowman, M. D. (2007). “Long-term effects of super heavy-weight vehicles on bridges.”, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities
Volume 30 • Issue 1 • February 2016
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 26, 2014
Accepted: Sep 11, 2014
Published online: Oct 15, 2014
Discussion open until: Mar 15, 2015
Published in print: Feb 1, 2016
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.