Wooden Bridge Research Articles

Performance of Nondestructive Sonic Echo Testing Method on Partially Dismantled Unknown Wood Bridge Foundations; A Case Study

Sonic Echo (SE) testing method is a well-known, versatile method to gather information pertaining to unknown bridge foundations. Many studies on the applicability and methodology improvement of SE tests to evaluate individual piles and foundations supporting the superstructure have been reported previously. However, there is a rare opportunity for obtaining the performance of SE tests without the bridge deck. In the current study, three piles of a dismantled unknown bridge foundation were tested. Unusual vibrations on velocity signals were found which are independent of the location of the sensors. Such signals do not contain identifiable echoes from the pile toe. Therefore, they cannot be used to determine the depth of the piles. The results and observations of this study show that there is little future application for conducting SE tests on bridges that are out of service.

Evaluation of short span bridge projects with a focus on sustainability

This work applies life cycle sustainability assessment techniques in the superstructures of small-span bridges for rural and vicinal roads by integrating them into the decision-making process to include sustainability indicators. The study subsequently investigated the potential environmental impacts of three bridge configurations as proposed by Brazilian public agencies, including steel and concrete composite bridges, standard precast concrete bridges, and standard wood bridges. The life cycle assessment and the ReCiPe endpoint methodology were used for three damage categories -ecosystems, human health, and resources’ surplus costs- at the midpoint, and one potential impact category (global warming). The study was conducted using 27 bridges, including 11 precast concrete bridges, 13 steel and concrete composite bridges, and 3 wooden bridges. The best indexes were obtained in all categories for bridges composed of steel and concrete. The results reveal indexes that can serve as guides in bridge planning and construction, as this technique can be applied to several types of structures provided they have the same function to determine which is the most environmentally sustainable.

BRIDGE BUILDING AS A PROBLEM OF URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT IN THE EUROPEAN NORTH OF RUSSIA IN THE EARLY XX CENTURY

Introduction. The organization of transport links and the bridge building in cities located on the banks of wide rivers has always been one of the most important tasks of the local administration. The study of the history of bridge building allows not only to trace the process of modernization of different regions of the country, but also to help in solving similar problems of our time. Nevertheless, the history of Russian bridge building is poorly studied. The purpose of the article is to determine the characteristics and features of the organization of bridge building in big cities of the European North of Russia as a way to solve one of the problems of urban infrastructure in the early XX century. Materials and Methods. The sources for this study are the documents of the State archive of the Arkhangelsk region, published documents on the history of Vologda, articles in the local periodicals of the early XX century. The analysis of the studied problem used a systematic approach, the method of economic analysis, historical and historical-comparative methods. Results and Discussion. The building of permanent bridges was a need for the development of Arkhangelsk and Vologda. In Vologda the two wooden bridges were built in the middle of XIX century on city funds and in the future these bridges were repaired or rebuilt. The Arkhangelsk city authorities did not hurry to solve a problem of city infrastructure by own efforts and a long time they used the floating bridge. The lack of experience in the building of large bridges and the desire to save money led to the rapid destruction of the first permanent bridge in Arkhangelsk. Conclusion. The Development of trade and industry in cities of the European North of Russia, such as Arkhangelsk and Vologda, led to the expansion of their territory and the emergence over time, the so-called third parts of the cities. Despite the comparable size of the population of the districts located across the river, the process of connecting them with bridges to the rest of the city went at different rates, which depended on the attitude of the local administration to the problem of urban infrastructure.

ARCHITECTURAL CHANGES IN LIEPAJA’S CENTER DUE TO ECONOMIC CONDITIONS AND POLITICAL IDEOLOGY

In Liepaja, until 1703 economic developed on the Trade Port channel’s southern embankment. The main traffic flow changed his direction: from the port to the New Market leads Great (Latvian: Lielā) Street, at which end a wooden bridge was built over the channel. In the 19th century, the Administrative Center formed at the New Market Square’s vicinity. Streets connected squares and green structures in a united system. The Rose Square was set up instead the New Market. During World War II, the building at embankments and Great Street was destroyed. Using the Master Plan, approved in 1950, architect Vladimir Kruglov created the Detailed Plan for developed of Liepaja Center and Great Street. A reinforced-concrete bridge was built across the channel. Until the 100th Anniversary of the Proclamation of Independence of Latvia, the bridge was expanded, but Great Street was reconstructed. The object of the research – the city center of Liepaja and Great Street. Research problem – architectural changes of the city center of Liepaja and Great Street has studied not sufficiently. Research novelty – architectural analysis of the city center of Liepaja and Great Street. The goal of the research – to determine the typical changes in planning of the city center and Great Street in the context of Liepaja urban development. Main methods applied – analysis of archive documents, projects and cartographic materials of urban planning, as well as study of published literature and inspection of buildings in nature.

Numerical hygro-thermal analysis of coated wooden bridge members exposed to Northern European climates

This work presents a numerical model to analyse the hygro-thermal behaviour of wooden bridge members. A multi-Fickian hygro-thermal model, previously implemented by some of the authors, is extended ...

Providence

100 THIRII MYO KYAW MYINT Providence  ast Bay Bike Path and the trees rise before us like a dark wave. Beyond them, there is the gazebo and the pale bodies of the vacationers ’ drowned children. The girl children we have named Veronica or Madeline. The boy children George or Richard. We park our bikes at the water’s edge and continue down the Path on foot. The night is balmy. The city sparkles in the distance and I can make out the power plant, the jewelry factories, and the strip clubs. We enter the line of trees. Our pockets are filled with bread to feed the dead children. Maya’s hair is pulled back from her temples and it falls to her shoulders in tight, dark curls. She is so beautiful it makes me sad. She look like a princess. The trees reach for our ankles as we walk because the forest is enchanted. I look up and see naked girls hanging by their hair from the highest branches. I recognize some of them. They came through the school where I teach. Some of the girls are still alive. The air is green and shiny inside the forest and I nearly trip on a creeping root. If I fall, the trees will hang me up too. I am more careful where I step. After some time, we reach the clearing, the gazebo, and the bridge to the vacationers’ house. The house is white, enormous. The moon is full. I dig my hands into my pockets for the bread and break off some pieces. Maya takes off her soft shoes and dips her toes in the water. In the moonlight, her skin is dark blue. She draws circles in the water with her toes and begins to talk of her cousin who killed himself, her white cousin, the son of her mother’s sister. He heard the voices of angels, Maya says. I toss pieces of bread into the water and watch them sink. I think I see the silver skin of the dead children beneath the water’s surface. When her cousin died, Maya says, they found his hoard of angels and demons. Little figurines that filled every drawer. He must have been collecting them for years. I sit down beside Maya on the bank and look at our reflection in the water. We sit close together. The water is very still. e 101 Maya hasn’t touched her bread at all, so I remark on this and she stops the story she was telling me of her cousin’s suicide. How he drowned himself in a frozen lake. She takes the bread out of her coat pocket and tosses the whole loaf into the water. We hear a loud splash. We wait to see if the children will wake up. The vacationers came late last spring when the city was in bloom, when the air was heavy with the scent of magnolia and wet earth. Spring is the most beautiful season in this city. The ice on the sidewalks melts in layers and for a few days I can see the colorful leaves from last fall encased under my feet. The vacationers’ house along the East Bay Bike Path is built like a castle. It stands on a rock in the water. The gazebo stands on a smaller rock closer to the path and between the house and the gazebo is a wooden bridge. The house is only accessible by boat. I imagine the vacationers built their house where they did because it is important to have privacy on a vacation, and also because they were afraid to die. There are parts of this city where people die every day. At the school where I teach remedial reading there is a poster on the front office door of all the children who have gone missing and are probably dead. Down the hall, there is another poster of all the local men who are convicted sex offenders. The staff is made to memorize the first poster, and the children the second. The East Bay Bike Path begins at India Point Park. Ships from the colonies once sailed to India from...

Landscapes

Landscapes Molly Mcclennen (bio) About fifteen years before I would move there, I spent a weekend in Aurora, Illinois, staying with a friend's aunt and uncle during a trip to Chicago. I remember only one thing of Aurora from that visit, but that one thing left a strong impression: My hosts lived in a sprawling, new housing development where each house looked identical to every other. The houses radiated in all directions [End Page 32] across the flat land, and, had it not been for a house number displayed on the garage, I would never have been able to find my way back to our host's home. The houses were large enough to contain all the amenities a middle class American would expect—a two-car garage, a laundry room, and a separate bedroom for every family member—but still looked surprisingly ephemeral for a $250,000, 2000-square foot investment. They stood, unrooted and bulky, on their postage-stamp-sized, perfectly square lots, as if they were placed there the way a child places rows of toy houses on his living room carpet, knowing that all of them would be quickly removed when his mother said it was time to stop playing and go to bed. Just as any ethnocentric traveler likes to relay stories of the strange things people do in foreign lands, I returned home to West Virginia with my stories of those houses in Aurora and their endless uniformity, not just within that one neighborhood, but among the many such developments I saw all across the flat land west of Chicago. I always told my listeners about how those rows of houses and the endlessly flat landscape upon which they rested had left me feeling disoriented. I was from the mountains, where the land folds into a complicated series of ridges and hollows, each of them unique in form. These serve as all the landmark we need to find our bearings. In Aurora, I could find no landmarks to reference, only flat land and sky and the sea of houses. I would always finish my stories by saying that the last place I would ever want to live was in one of those housing developments where the landscape was never broken by any discernable deviation in topography or architecture. As I traveled more, I found similar housing developments were common throughout America, but at that time, I had never seen one of that scale in Appalachia, where by necessity our homes have to accommodate the land, acquiescing to the [End Page 33] narrowness of the hollow, the spine of the ridge, the bend in the creek, or the grade of the hill. I once thought about buying a small house out Little Fudges Creek, a hollow a few miles from where I grew up. If you stood on the house's back step and made a great effort to extend your arm, it might have been possible to touch the steep hillside behind the house, so close did house and hill press against each other. To reach the house from the road, you had to cross a rickety wooden bridge over the creek. The realtor could offer no certainty that the hill would not slide someday and said that, yes, the creek did sometimes rise to the porch after a few days' hard rain. But being so tightly pressed between hillside and creek does not make a home unsellable in a place with so much beautiful land, but with so little of it level enough to build upon. The impermanence and uniformity of those newly-formed seas of expensive houses in Aurora stood at the opposite pole from the modest homes I was used to seeing in West Virginia, a place whose residents might be described as "house-poor but land-rich." It seemed to me that for those people living in those houses in Aurora, the house itself was primary: Did it have a dishwasher, finished basement, and walk-in closets? In West Virginia, owning a piece of land often takes precedence over the house on it. It is not unheard of for people there to buy land and live in a temporary...

Perencanaan Struktur Atas Jembatan Komposit Sungai Nipah Desa Darul Aman Kecamatan Rupat

The Darul Aman Village Bridge was originally a wooden bridge connecting community settlements with harbor and plantation areas. Yhe current condition of the bridge is not worth crossing because the wooden structure on the bridge has severe weathering, so it is very risky if forced to pass through the vehicle continuously and will cause further damage.for this purpose a nwe bridge is planned using a composite structure between steel girder and concrete slab. This plan refers to SNI T-02-2005 for loading bridge and SNI T-03-2005 fot steel structure planning. The planned plan includes bridge slab, girders, diaphragms and bridge elastomeric placement. 
 From the result of the planning, the steel girder profile is using WF 800.300.14.26 , with a gap between 1,125 m. The steel angles profile diaphragm 70.70.7 mm using with a gap 4 m diaphragm, the elastomeric placement diameter is 175.175.12 mm

Modeling, identification, and optimization of violin bridges

AbstractWe present the derivation and implementation of a mathematical model for the linear elastic structure of a violin bridge. In favour of getting highly accurate simulation results, special effort has been taken to reconstruct the computational geometry from a µ‐CT scan. After laying out our approach for this in detail, we also present first vibroacoustical analysis like solving the eigenvalue problem of elasticity for the orthotropic material law of the wooden bridge and simulation of its dynamical behaviour. We then conclude with explaining our ongoing work of identifiying material paramters by an inverse problem. With this project we are aiming to optimize a violin bridge regarding its material parameters and its shape.

DEVELOPMENT AND IMPROVEMENT OF BEAM STRUCTURES ON THE BASIS OF COMPOSITE LOGS’ GIRDERS

Introduction. Experience in the design and construction of beam structures of wooden bridges with composite girders indicates the possibility of increasing the bearing capacity and the length of the overlapped spans.Materials and methods. The most rational load-bearing elements of composite girders can serve as the logs edged on two edges with the diameter of 28 to 32 cm with the maximum use of the most durable layers of sapwood and dowel connections of steel plates with blind cylindrical nags.Results. In contrast to the compounds of composite girders on lamellar nails, the proposed connection greatly simplifies the process of making the composite girders. Such connection also allows using the logging along the length, combining into three or four tiers and increasing the length of the span.Discussion and conclusion. The proposed solutions increase the load-bearing capacity of composite girders and allow them to be used in the structures of wooden bridges under modern automotive loads. Moreover, the calculation method of composite girders on the basis of the method of forces and discrete placement in the beams between the logs of concentrated elastic-datum shear bonds is developed.

Endurance of the wooden bridge reinforced by the dowel plates

Abstract The most important piece of road infrastructure is bridges. Wooden bridges have advanced constantly during the past decades. The trend began in Scandinavian countries but has also now gained significant ground in Russia. This research studies experimental endurance potential of the joints of the wooden beam while considering the coefficient of asymmetry of the cycle, which corresponds to the actual operating conditions. Performance analysis of the composite bars is carried out based on the experiment; the development of a special methodology for calculating the joints of wooden elements with the dowel plates for their better endurance is also introduced in this paper. The results of experimental studies on the performance of bending composite wooden bridge bars based on dowel plates operating under cyclic influences thus determine the endurance limit of wood for composite wooden bridge beams based on dowel plates. The calculation technique and interdependence of the endurance coefficient affecting the asymmetry coefficient of the bent composite wooden bridge bars on the dowel plates under cyclic loading are considered. The experimental data on the endurance of composite wooden bridge beams have been obtained, and separate analysis has been made of the compounds under cyclic loading performance; a method has been developed for calculating the bent composite wooden bridge bars reinforced by the dowel plates under cyclic influences.

Performance of a spruce bridge in north-west Spain after 12 years of exposure

ABSTRACTThis article shows the performance of spruce bridge that represents the situation of several wooden bridges built in the 1990s in Spain with spruce and fir. In most cases, damages due to severe decay had appeared before 10 years of service life, and the magnitude and extent of the damages were so significant that the substitution of the structures became mandatory. The aim of this study is to understand the causes of early and severe decay, showing the case study of a spruce bridge located in north-west Spain and analysing the influence of wood species, preservative treatments and designs, combined with the variability of environmental conditions in the emergence of early pathological processes. The damage of the elements is related to the wood species used, the impossibility of applying a preservative treatment, the climatic conditions and local climate, bad design details and no maintenance, which result in a prolonged time of wetness during most of the year. This example confirms the inability of spruce wood for being used in exterior structures, such as bridges, which are located in wet and warm climates like north-west Spain and having wood-destroying fungi that can degrade the wooden elements.

A comparison of linear approaches to filter out environmental effects in structural health monitoring

Abstract This paper discusses the possibility of using the Mahalanobis squared-distance to perform robust novelty detection in the presence of important environmental variability in a multivariate feature vector. By performing an eigenvalue decomposition of the covariance matrix used to compute that distance, it is shown that the Mahalanobis squared-distance can be written as the sum of independent terms which result from a transformation from the feature vector space to a space of independent variables. In general, especially when the size of the features vector is large, there are dominant eigenvalues and eigenvectors associated with the covariance matrix, so that a set of principal components can be defined. Because the associated eigenvalues are high, their contribution to the Mahalanobis squared-distance is low, while the contribution of the other components is high due to the low value of the associated eigenvalues. This analysis shows that the Mahalanobis distance naturally filters out the variability in the training data. This property can be used to remove the effect of the environment in damage detection, in much the same way as two other established techniques, principal component analysis and factor analysis. The three techniques are compared here using real experimental data from a wooden bridge for which the feature vector consists in eigenfrequencies and modeshapes collected under changing environmental conditions, as well as damaged conditions simulated with an added mass. The results confirm the similarity between the three techniques and the ability to filter out environmental effects, while keeping a high sensitivity to structural changes. The results also show that even after filtering out the environmental effects, the normality assumption cannot be made for the residual feature vector. An alternative is demonstrated here based on extreme value statistics which results in a much better threshold which avoids false positives in the training data, while allowing detection of all damaged cases.

Case studies on the history and use of timber bridges in New Zealand

ABSTRACTWooden bridges have been an important part of road and rail networks in New Zealand. While wooden structures have largely been replaced by concrete and steel on major arteries, they still have a place where lightweight, easily assembled structures are needed. These timber bridges are also an alternative to other materials in roads which carry relatively low traffic loads. In the last 10 years, there has been a resurgence in the installation of engineer-designed wooden structures. Contrary to the traditional method of construction, these prefabricated components are manufactured in a factory and brought to the job site where they can be assembled quickly with a minimum of cutting and drilling. In this document, we summarise the history and use of timber bridges in New Zealand. Most of the older bridges were constructed using Australian hardwood and native durable New Zealand timber. In the 1950s–1960s, preservative-treated timber particularly glue-laminated bridges were built. Currently, few bridges are built entirely from wood. However, in many smaller bridges, the superstructure and decking are built using treated wood. Using some specific case studies based on our historical service test data, we looked at the durability and maintenance requirements of wooden bridges in New Zealand.

Movement of borate from liquid borate inserts in dual-treated bridge timbers

ABSTRACTCreosote-treated wooden bridge ties in the South-Eastern U.S.A. last about 15–20 years, which falls well below the national average of 40 years for crossties. It was demonstrated that diffusion of inserted liquid disodium octaborate tetrahydrate within wooden bridge ties was dramatically increased during Boulton treatment. The objective of this study was to determine how much diffusion of borate inside the bridge tie occurred over time, after initial treatment. Green hardwood bridge ties were ported, borate treated and then Boulton treated with copper naphthenate at a commercial tie treatment plant. Retention and location of borate within the wood was tested at 3, 14 and 40 weeks after the treatment. As previously found, movement of borate within the wood was significantly enhanced by the elevated temperature and steam generated during the Boulton cycle. It appeared that borate continued to diffuse inside of the tie and would likely treat and protect a significant volume of the heartwood over time and thus increase bridge tie life in a similar way to crossties. It is hoped that the results will reduce environmental impact, improve safety and enable railroads to continue to use wood with confidence.

GİRESUN’DA GELENEKSEL ÜÇ AHŞAP KÖPRÜ

Three wooden bridges which have unknown years of built and one of them was collapsed a few years ago are situated in some subcentral villages in Giresun are presented and evaluated in this study. Two wooden bridges (Han Bridge and Ezirkan Bridge), which one of them was destroyed a few years ago, are on Batlama Creek that draw a line between subcentral Hisargeris Sayca and Hisargeris-Uzkara villages in Giresun and also another bridge (Ahmed Aga Bridge) on Lapa (Great) Creek within the borders of subcentral Lapa village in Giresun are analysed in this study. The bridges that form a part of traditional rural architecture preserve their original appearances on a large scale. There are unfortunately very few examples have been remained in our country because this kind of bridges does not fulfill new requirements, they are abandoned and destroyed soon after new bridges are erected. These buildings merely have been subjected to the academical analyses and published and some of them are on the brink of destruction because they have not been registered. These building that being surveyed shows rural construction features of Black Sea Region characteristically. The bridges have hipped roofs on wooden columns and stone pillars carrying beams and girder. We suppose that the roofs were covered with tiles originally. At present they are covered with galvanized sheets (spelter). The buildings that functionally prominent are devoid of ornamentation. These buildings represent the similar tradition with their materials, technical qualities, architectural expressions. There is not an inscription or documentation about years of built of the bridges. But considering the similar traditional styles and the similar wooden bridges in Trabzon, Cankiri, Kastamonu, it is thought that these bridges were built between 19th and early 20th centuries. However, all of them looks as if they were built at a latter date with their present situations based upon restorations and partial renovations. The sorts of wood used for the bridges are oak and chestnut which are common locally. The oak and chestnut trees are known as long lived, very solid and adaptable with the rainy climate in the region. Because of that, they are suitable for the construction of bridges. It is helpful that recognition of the little known wooden bridges in terms of traditional construction style. We hope that this study will make a contribution to the protection of wooden bridges.

Environmental context and the role of plants at the early medieval artificial island in the lake Paklicko Wielkie, Nowy Dworek, western Poland

This paper reports the archaeobotanical investigation of the early medieval lake site near Nowy Dworek, in the west of Poland, focussing on the role of plants on and around the site. The construction of a small, artificial island in a lake similar to Irish crannogs, traces of a wooden bridge and archaeological artefacts all indicate that the site was a special place for the local Slav community in the 9th–10th centuries ad. Plant macroremains and pollen also demonstrate the uniqueness of the place. A large number of the cultivated and wild plant taxa are connected with the local environment and reveal an interest in plants as an element of beliefs. Pollen from dung pellets provides information about plants used as fodder and complements the picture of plant communities on the land around the island.

Estimating the Impacts of Preservative Ports on Bridge Tie Strength

Abstract Scale models of wooden bridge timbers were broken in bending to assess the impact of holes drilled along their length to permit the addition of wood preservatives. The results indicate that the holes have minimal impact. However, the common practice of cutting “daps” on the underside of the beams to accommodate the supporting beams appears to have substantial strength-reducing effects. Railroads could consider using borate ports to improve the life of their bridge timbers and reducing the depth of, or eliminating, daps.

Structural Analysis of GFRP Truss Bridge Model

Experimental investigation of structural behavior of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) space truss bridge model subjected to static loading is discussed in this paper. Bridge prototype was assembled using GFRP profiles produced by Fiberline Composites Ltd, steel bolts and GFRP brackets. In order to load the structure, wooden bridge deck was installed. Total load of 13.3kN was applied in four stages while measuring the bridge node displacement. Flexural behavior of the truss structure was monitored at every loading stage. In order to perform the comparison analysis of truss structural behavior, numerical model was created employing finite element software Solidworks. Comparative analysis has shown good agreement between experimental and numerical results (the margin of error varied from 0,3 up to 10,5%). The obtained results show, that designed and tested bridge model has a sufficient reserve of structural stiffness. Performed investigation reveals that GFRP profiles are suitable for real pedestrian bridge superstructures.

Розрахунок військового низьководного мосту на горизонтальне навантаження

Проведено дослідження роботи дерев’яної мостової споруди при дії гальмівних навантажень. Під час будівництва військових низьководних мостів та при подальшій їх експлуатації проводились експериментальні дослідження роботи конструкції елементів мосту на дію горизонтальних навантажень. На підтвердження експериментальних досліджень були проведені розрахунки конструктивних систем мосту, що зводились до розрахунків багатоконтурних плоских рам на основі методів будівельної механіки. З’ясовано, що при початковій дії навантаження на одному з прольотів мосту зусилля сприймаються лише двома сусідніми рядами опор мосту. Коли величина горизонтального переміщення становила 4 см і більше, в роботу включалися наступні суміжні ряди опор конструкції мосту.