Improving Safety by Eliminating the Bump at End of the Bridge Using Lightweight Backfill and Geosynthetics

Details

• Creators:
  Han, Jie ; Ye, Yuqiu ; Liu, Hao ; Parsons, Robert L.
• Corporate Creators:
  Mid-America Transportation Center for Transportation Safety and Equity (MATC-TSE) Region 7 University Transportation Center (UTC)
• Corporate Contributors:
  United States. Department of Transportation. University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program ; United States. Department of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology ; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Backfilling Bridge Abutments Geosynthetics Lightweight Aggregates Safety
• Publication/ Report Number:
  25-1121-3002-101
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Edition:
  06/01/2023 - 05/30/2025
• Corporate Publisher:
  Mid-America Transportation Center for Transportation Safety and Equity (MATC-TSE) Region 7 University Transportation Center (UTC)
• Abstract:
  Seasonal temperature changes induce the expansion and contraction of bridge girders and decks which move integral bridge abutments (IBAs) toward and away from their backfill, resulting in high horizontal earth pressures, backfill surface settlements, and abutment toe movements away from the backfill. Geosynthetic reinforcements can provide tensile resistance and have good interactions with soil, while lightweight aggregate has low self-weight and a high friction angle. These characteristics may enable geosynthetic reinforcement and lightweight aggregate to mitigate the seasonal temperature change-induced problems associated with the IBAs. This study utilized finite difference method-based software FLAC2D to assess the benefits of geosynthetic reinforcement and lightweight aggregate in addressing the seasonal temperature change induced problems with IBAs. The plastic hardening soil model was used to simulate the behavior of the backfill while the strip elements were used to simulate geosynthetics. Numerical results show that geosynthetic reinforcement connected to the abutment reduced the total and differential settlements behind the abutment and minimized the development of potential shear slip surfaces within the backfill. Lightweight aggregate as an abutment backfill reduced the horizontal earth pressures behind the abutment but might develop multiple active and passive shear slip surfaces after simulated seasonal temperature changes. The combined measures of the lightweight aggregate and the geosynthetic reinforcements connected to the abutment best reduced the total and differential settlements, minimized the development of active and passive shear slip surfaces within the backfill, and reduced the horizontal earth pressures behind the abutment.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  69A3552348307
• Collection(s):
  University Transportation Centers
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c40327b8049c556b8c72a78a08160f69ba548c3136b08acfbed3c3c8caf9d799304a031670e72b404722cb1d946cfe5fcb149b4674d6a4ea842b76c6765c9341
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/85524/dot_85524_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 3.09 MB ]