Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities

Built infrastructure in the United States is generally susceptible to damage or collapse if subjected to severe fire conditions, such as those associated with the burning of a fully loaded gasoline tanker truck. Because of the importance and heavy use of transportation systems within the United States, it is critical that susceptibilities to fire damage are investigated and mitigated to reduce the potential for substantial life-safety and economic losses. The need for infrastructure fire protection is heightened by the frequency of collapse of infrastructure components (e.g., bridge superstructures) as part of severe fire incidents. However, fire protection of infrastructure remains a developing area. Presented in this paper is the state of the art in passive fire protection of transportation structures. More specifically, the impacts of high-intensity fires on existing infrastructure and commonly used structural materials are reviewed. Additionally, design standards that provide means of assessing fire safety levels for passively protected transportation structures are reviewed, and the capabilities of existing fire protection materials available for use in transportation structures are assessed. Given the diverse nature of transportation structures located within the United States, this paper is organized such that state-of-the-art fire safety aspects are emphasized for two major types of transportation systems, namely, tunnels and bridges.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the current multihazard loading environments when future blast loadings are included. While most of the currently available software programs for the physical testing of normal design loading conditions have been validated, the testing does not include the blast environment. It has not been determined whether these programs can be used when blast loads are included. Currently, designers use multiple software packages to perform multihazard analyses when blast loads are involved, making it difficult to compare the results. This analysis has as major topics air-blast and structural responses. The three standard air-blast codes used are ConWep, BlastX, and SBEDS, and the four structural response codes used are SBEDS, STAAD, ADINA, and DYNA3D. All analyses are compared against a test series that loaded standard open web steel joist sections dynamically with an air-blast load. This paper compares the output and results of each program against the test results to determine if the software is comparable in an effort to simplify the multihazard analysis process.

Construction activity generates important economic contributions to a country’s economy and provides a source of employment for a large workforce, particularly in underdeveloped countries. Many characteristics unique to the construction industry also encourage a greater incidence of work-related accidents. This work describes 22 cases of construction-related accidents that had taken place in the Yucatán Peninsula of México, where migratory phenomena have led to an increased demand for construction. This industry, therefore, has become an important source of employment and has stimulated the participation of companies from outside the area. The risks and subsequent consequences were studied and analyzed within a context of projects that were not particularly complex or of great height, and in which a low level of technology was used. These factors notwithstanding, results showed a high incidence of serious accidents. Based on an analysis of prediction and severity, it was possible to identify the principal conditions requiring urgent improvement in construction work risk prevention within the context previously mentioned.

Under an experimental features study requested by the Federal Highway Administration, the Indiana Department of Transportation installed a proprietary cable median barrier system, i.e., the Brifen four-rope wire rope safety fence (WRSF), to assess issues in installation, maintenance, and repair of this WRSF system and to evaluate its in-service performance. The WRSF system was installed at two different sites, respectively. A total of 157 median crashes were examined to evaluate the safety performance of the WRSF system in terms of the effectiveness in intercepting errant vehicles and crash outcomes. Field visits were conducted to identify possible improvements to the layout of the WRSF system according to the roadway configurations. The construction and repair costs were examined to provide useful information for cost-effectiveness analysis. Models were developed to enable an in situ estimate of the damage to the WRSF system after each crash. This paper presents the process and findings for the field installation, safety evaluation, and cost analysis.

The objective is to examine the performance of specific detailing components of mechanically stabilized Earth (MSE) walls when subjected to midlevel seismic excitations, such as those expected in the State of Colorado. The motivation for this study is the elevated peak ground accelerations mandated by the 2007 4th Edition of AASHTO LRFD bridge design specifications. According to this revision, highway-related projects must be designed for an elevated 1,000-year return period earthquake, as opposed to the earlier editions’ 500-year return period earthquake. Finite-element analyses are performed using LS-DYNA to examine the displacement-based, dynamic behavior of individual MSE wall components, such as geogrid reinforcement and wall facings. Walls at two heights, 4.57 m (15.0 ft) and 9.14 m (30.0 ft), with two types of facings (modular block and segmental panel walls), reinforced using geogrids, are modeled based on the Colorado Department of Transportation drawings. These walls are subjected to three synthetic earthquake motions generated by the USGS 2002 deaggregation tool for three sites spread across the geographical extent of the State of Colorado. The results show that typical MSE walls perform well with respect to connection details when subjected to midlevel seismic loads.

An improved steel sheet pile (SSP) inspection procedure is proposed in this paper, which couples the field inspection condition-index methodology previously developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with reliability assessments to quantify the life-cycle costs and environmental impacts associated with various maintenance and repair (M&R) scenarios. Maintenance and repair strategies over the analysis period (from present to the end of the structure’s lifetime) are determined through reliability assessment for structures with relatively low condition indices. The level of maintenance activity is then to be determined by the life-cycle cost analysis and environmental life-cycle assessment of M&R alternatives. The optimal M&R alternative is the one with the lowest cost combined with minimal environmental impact. Using these methodologies, the SSP structure owners will gain improved capabilities to monitor present-day conditions of SSP infrastructure and prioritize structures that will require sustainable M&R. Further research is proposed to collect real field-inspection data and create M&R records that can be used to estimate the reliability more accurately. In addition, the methodology developed for this relatively simple type of structure can be extended to more complex and critical structural systems such as gates, valves, and other components making up locks, dams, and other related navigational facilities.

Large-diameter cast-in-place concrete pipe (PCC) pile is widely used for pile foundation and pile-supported embankment over soft clay in China. However, studies on PCC pile-soil reactions ($p\text{-}y$ curves) or performance of the pile groups under lateral load are not widely reported. A large-scale model test of a single PCC pile under lateral load is carried out, and its lateral bearing capacity, bending moment, and $p\text{-}y$ curves are measured and analyzed. The deflection and bending moment of this PCC pile is calculated by the $p\text{-}y$ curves method and modified pile modulus using LPILE software. Three-dimensional numerical analyses are conducted using ABAQUS software. The reliability and accuracy of the numerical simulation model are verified by comparing the results of the large-scale model test with the LPILE calculation. The distribution of deflection and bending moment along the pile and pile group efficiencies of the PCC piles are comparatively analyzed with those of a drilled shaft, which has the same concrete volume. Then, the lateral performance of the PCC pile-supported embankment influence factors are analyzed and discussed. The results show that the PCC piles under lateral load can be calculated by the $p\text{-}y$ curves developed for drilled shaft and modified pile modulus using LPILE software. It also shows that PCC pile-supported embankment is more cost effective than conventional pile (solid circular section pile) supported embankment.

One of the most important tasks of a civil engineer as a bridge inspector is the structural assessment of cracks on bridge decks and their supporting structure. Although the work seems to have low value, the financial impacts on the bridge owners of getting it wrong can be significant. This paper summarizes what every civil engineer working as a bridge designer or inspector should know about undertaking and interpreting crack surveys in typical unreinforced concrete or masonry abutments in short- and medium-span bridges. A methodology is introduced that may be used to increase the validity and reliability of all decisions concerning the crack significance and associated remedial works.

Many of the older bridges in the United States have no original contract documents available, and about 26,000 bridges that are rated as scour critical have unknown foundation conditions. Thus, no information is available regarding the type, depth, geometry, or material of these scour critical bridge foundations. The unknown bridge foundations pose a significant problem to bridge owners because of safety concerns. This paper presents the determination of an unknown bridge foundation depth at Forth Worth, Texas. The bridge was supported by driven steel H-piles. Three nondestructive testing (NDT) techniques were utilized: (1) the parallel seismic (PS) method, (2) the sonic echo (SE) method, and (3) resistivity imaging (RI). The main objective of this present study was to compare the suitability of NDT techniques to determine the unknown bridge foundation depth. Based on the field test results, both PS and RI methods provided foundation depth close to actual foundation depth. However, the SE method was determined to be unsuitable for determining the unknown steel H-pile depth.