STRESS HISTORIES FOR HIGHWAY BRIDGES SUBJECTED TO TRAFFIC LOADING

Abstract

An investigation of the dynamic response of three continuous highway bridges
\nsubjected to both a standard test vehicle and traffic loadings has been
\nconducted. Comprehensive studies of bridge response under traffic loadings
\nwere made using data from over 2700 heavy truck traffic crossings; in addition,
\ndeterministic studies of bridge behavior were made using data from some 130
\ntest runs with the FHWA vehicle. The experimental data consists of the
\nvehicle characteristics and sets of strain--and deflection records--for each truck
\ndescribing the time-history of response at selected locations on the
\nbridge o A comprehensive summary of results and interpretation is presented.
\nSystems of computer software were developed taking advantage of recent advances
\nin data recording and processing hardware to allow highly automated recordings,
\nreduction and analysis of the data. A significant characteristic of the study
\nis that the response histories for each vehicle crossing are retained as
\npermanent records in computer based disk or tape files.