Girder distribution factors for steel bridges subjected to permit truck or super load

Abstract

There are constraints on truck weight, axle configurations and size imposed by departments of transportation around the globe due to structural capacity limitations of highway pavements and bridges. In spite of that, freight movers demand some vehicles that surpass the maximum size and legal weight limits to use the transportation network. Oversized trucks serve the purpose of spreading the load on the bridge; thus, reducing the load effect on the superstructure. For such vehicles, often a quick structural analysis of the existing bridges along the traveled route is needed to ensure that the structural capacity is not exceeded. For a wide vehicle having wheel gage larger than the standard 1830 mm, the girder distribution factors in the design specifications cannot be directly used to estimate the live load in the supporting girders. In this study, a simple approach that is based on finite element analysis is developed by modifying the AASHTO LRFD's girder distribution factors for slab-on-steel-girder bridges to overcome this problem. The proposed factors allow for determining the oversized vehicle bending moment and shear force effect in the individual girders as a function of the gage width characteristics. Findings of the study showed that the relationship between the girder distribution factor and gage width is more nonlinear in shear than in flexure. The proposed factors yield reasonable results compared with the finite element analysis with adequate level of conservatism.