Field Investigation of a Strengthened Timber Trestle Railroad Bridge

Details

• Creators:
  Gutkowski, Richard M. ; Shigidi, Abdalla M. T. ; Vinh Tran, An
• Corporate Contributors:
  Colorado State University. Department of Civil Engineering
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Railroad bridges
  • Trestles
  • Wooden bridges
  • Field tests
  • Strengthening (Maintenance)
  • Stringers
  • Load tests
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Corporate Publisher:
  Colorado State University. Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Abstract:
  A three-span, open-deck timber trestle railroad bridge had been previously field load tested. The prior testing program was done in cooperation with the Transportation Technology Center, Inc. a subsidiary of the Association of American Railroads. The bridge was subjected to static and moving train loads as well as well as controlled actuator ramp loading. The bridge was later strengthened by the addition of helper stringers. The bridge was load tested again by moving train loads. Comparisons of the stiffness of the bridge were made before and after the strengthening. The efficiency of the helper stringers was between 82 percent and 97 percent. Load sharing among stringers was determined empirically. No pattern of load sharing among them could be identified, but individual stringers carried up to 9 percent more load share than in an equal load sharing distribution. The transient displacement responses showed predominantly no dynamic impact effect, but isolated increases of 6-10 percent were observed.
• Format:
  PDF
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/15933/dot_15933_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.15 MB]
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers ; US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:67a0721c81d1a112f0f3bdf3fe410a54ff1c140826eeb6ea868d34a3c81d82fdd085902efccb5b739605e17fca7a695ff3c99312c5c484b9e9b218ac74e59558