Experimental investigation of a prestressed concrete girder bridge model

Every year, overheight vehicles cause impact damage to prestressed concrete girder bridges. The damage that results from these collisions affects the bridge in terms of strength, serviceability, and load distribution. As the number of vehicles on the nation's highways increases, incidents of damage most likely will increase. Significant costs are associated with the repair and/or replacement of these damaged bridges. With current information, decisions regarding repair versus replacement of damaged bridges are subjective at best. A full-scale prestressed concrete girder bridge model was investigated in this study. The two major variables in the investigation were location of load and amount of damage to an exterior girder. Loads were applied to the structure in the undamaged condition to obtain baseline behavior and at various levels of damage. Damage was inflicted to the exterior girder of the bridge to simulate field damage. Damage consisted of both removal of concrete and the severing of the prestressing strands. Concrete and steel were removed in small increments so that critical levels of damage could be determined. A total of thirteen levels of damage were inflicted on the exterior girder, each subjected to various load tests. The results of the tests are compared throughout the range of damage levels to determine bridge behavior in the damaged condition.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Civil Engineering

Year dc:date.issued

1998

Author dc:creator

• Paradis, Ryan Robert

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Wipf, Terry J.
• Klaiber, F. W.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/handle/20.500.12876/9z0KnnLr

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dr.lib.iastate.edu:20.500.12876/9z0KnnLr