Study of elastomeric bearings for superelevated U-Beam bridges.
-
2009-10-01
Details:
-
Creators:
-
Corporate Creators:
-
Corporate Contributors:
-
Subject/TRT Terms:
-
Publication/ Report Number:
-
Resource Type:
-
Geographical Coverage:
-
Edition:Technical Report; Sept. 2007-Aug. 2009.
-
Corporate Publisher:
-
Abstract:The primary objective of this research was to determine the best way to consider the effects of transverse
superelevation on uniform-height steel-reinforced elastomeric bearing pads for U-Beam bridges. Existing TxDOT
design provisions did not specifically account for the effects of the transverse superelevation. A nationwide survey
of Departments of Transportation (DOTs) revealed that the country was nearly evenly split on whether or not
superstructure elements such as U-Beams should be placed on a transverse superelevation. Specific modifications
to the AASHTO Method “A” design of elastomeric bearing equations were developed to account for the transverse
superelevation. The proposed modifications were evaluated over typical U-Beam span/spacing combinations for
both the U-40 and U-54 sections. The ability of the proposed modifications to predict actual behavior was
evaluated by inspecting existing bridges and performing full-scale laboratory testing. Both the field inspections and
the laboratory testing validated the need for the proposed revisions. These proposed revisions have been submitted
as suggested revisions to the TxDOT LRFD Bridge Design Manual. The feasibility of electronic monitoring in-situ
bearings that have experienced significant transverse deflections was investigated. The bulging on the sides of the
bearings made monitoring unreliable. Instead, a method to manually record pertinent information during the
routine bridge inspection is recommended.
-
Format:
-
Funding:
-
Collection(s):
-
Main Document Checksum:
-
File Type:
Supporting Files
-
No Additional Files
More +