Project Details
12-427
01/15/12
09/30/17
FHWA Innovative Bridge Research and Deployment (IBRD) Program
Iowa Department of Transportation
Researchers
Pavana Vennapusa
About the research
With the assistance of the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) and three centers at the Institute for Transportation (InTrans) at Iowa State University, Buchanan County, Iowa was awarded a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Innovative Bridge Research and Deployment (IBRD) Program grant to help construct and evaluate a replacement bridge that used innovative concepts to increase the bridge’s durability, while also striving to construct the bridge without the use of a traditional overhead crane, making the bridge system an attractive alternative for county workforces and minimizing disruption to the traveling public.
The innovative concepts utilized for this bridge included geosynthetic-reinforced soil (GRS) abutments, high-performance concrete (HPC) with lightweight fine aggregates (LWFAs) for internal curing, and a cast-on-site concrete box-beam superstructure.
Conclusions from the project included the following:
- The use of LWFAs to internally cure the concrete leads to higher strength of concrete and slightly lower weight of the beams.
- Lifting the beams from both ends using two backhoes and moving the beams over the creek was a successful approach and did not cause any damage to the beams beyond some minor bottom flange cracking.
- The load tests performed on the bridge over three years indicated that the bridge joints are well connected and performing well.
- The construction of the beams on-site followed by moving them over the abutments was a time-saving approach, which led to less traffic disruption.
- The GRS abutments did not show any erosion of backfill or any other issues after a flood event occurred in the spring of 2015.
- Results showed that the installation of the vertical sheet drain in one of the abutments provided improved drainage conditions over the abutment without the vertical sheet drain.
Researchers
About the research
With the assistance of the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Institute for Transportation (InTrans) at Iowa State University, Buchanan County, Iowa was awarded a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Innovative Bridge Research and Deployment (IBRD) Program grant to help construct and evaluate an innovative short-span bridge (i.e., the Amish Sawmill Bridge). The bridge was designed and constructed using folded plate tub girders.
This bridge utilizes a folded plate girder superstructure supported on geosynthetic-reinforced soil (GRS) abutments. To evaluate the structural behavior of the bridge, the researchers conducted laboratory and field testing with the goal of validating the adequacy of the folded plate girder for short-span bridge construction.
The research team conducted three laboratory tests on a folded plate girder specimen similar to the girders that were used on the completed bridge to study the girder’s construction-stage behavior, flexural behavior, and shear behavior. The researchers conducted live load field tests immediately after completion of the bridge with the girders and one year after bridge construction to evaluate the behavior of the bridge and its components. Full-scale finite element models of the bridge were established to interpret the test results. The researchers drew the following conclusions from experimental and numerical evaluation results:
- No noticeable, unwanted deformations or strain levels were found during laboratory tests, and the strains and displacements were well predicted by the design calculations.
- The girder has two webs with large associated shear capacity; thus, the shear strength of the folded plate girder when placed is not a point of concern for design considerations.
- Due to the shear lag effects, the strain near the bottom corners of the bottom flanges is larger; due to the biaxial bending effects, strains in the bottom flanges vary from one side to the other.
- The GRS-integrated bridge system (GRS-IBS) and abutments provide significant restraint to the girder ends. And, the end supports have restraint characteristics of an intermediate support condition, between the pinned and fixed support conditions.
- American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) equations were reasonably accurate at estimating the load distribution factors (LDFs) for interior and exterior girders of the investigated folded plate girder bridge.
- The folded plate girder is an effective alternative for construction of short-span bridges.