D-1 Flex Beam Field Instrumentation & Load Testing of Innovative Bridge Design

Details

• Creators:
  Gonzalez, Bryan ; Hodgson, Ian ; Sause, Richard ; Naito, Clay
• Corporate Creators:
  Lehigh University. ATLSS Engineering Research Center
• Corporate Contributors:
  Pennsylvania. Department of Transportation. Bureau of Planning and Research ; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Analysis Bridge Design Bridge Performance Composite Steel Bridge Composite Structures Controlled-load Bridge Testing Finite Element Analysis Of Highway Bridges Finite Element Method Flexible Structures Highway Bridges Innovation Loads Short-span Steel Highway Bridge Steel Bridges Structural Health Monitoring

  More +
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA -PA-2023-005-EO4767 WO 05
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Edition:
  Final Report
• Corporate Publisher:
  Pennsylvania. Department of Transportation. Bureau of Planning and Research
• Abstract:
  This report presents a study of an innovative superstructure system, termed Flex Beam, for short-span highway bridge applications. The system is comprised of inverted steel tee sections embedded in a concrete deck. An innovative mechanism for interface shear transfer between steel and concrete is provided by transverse deck reinforcement bars which pass through drilled holes near the tops of the steel tee webs. The first Flex Beam bridge was constructed in 2021, and consists of ten (inverted steel tee section) units with a span of 32 feet and width (from out-to-out) of 26 feet. This study assessed experimentally and numerically the in-situ performance of this Flex Beam demonstration bridge. After instrumenting the bridge, the response of the Flex Beam bridge to controlled-load testing and typical traffic loading was measured. In the report, the response of the Flex Beam bridge is assessed relative to the response anticipated from typical design and analysis calculations, and from the previous research on the Flex Beam system. Finite element analysis (FEA) results from several different FEA models are compared with the measured response of the bridge.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  EO4767 WO 05
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:cd58b7547d90f016e4dbe84b734e85ac844405d04898787ca21cbe00172fe45c604bc067167fcef6d099f46c40325622905e98011d0789f7508bb3929d47cc3f
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/89162/dot_89162_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 18.89 MB ]