Probabilistic assessment of live load effects on continuous span bridges with regular and irregular configurations and its design implications

Abstract

Studies on live load effects reported in recent literature are based on simple span bridges or on a limited number of continuous span bridges and regular configurations. In this study, an extensive probabilistic assessment of live load effects on continuous bridges is carried out for regular and irregular span configurations using weigh-in-motion data. Single vehicle passage is considered, and live load effects are compared with those from a live load model developed for simple spans from the same database. Truck models from Canada are also used for comparison purposes. Discussion of the fitting of extreme distribution is included, and an optimization scheme for the fitting is proposed. The most important finding of the study is that the use of live load models developed from simple spans or a limited number of continuous spans may not be suitable for designing continuous bridges, especially those with irregular configurations and short spans.