Date of Award

2019-01-01

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Civil Engineering

Advisor(s)

Jeffrey Weidner

Abstract

In this time of financial economy, bridge owners are faced with the important decision of where to focus financial assets while attempting to determine which structures are in most need. Bridge Engineers and researchers alike agree that a large portion of the United States bridge population are reaching the end of their design life. Researchers are currently investigating various means and methods of lengthening the amount of usefulness of these key pieces of infrastructure. This paper introduces the novel idea of bridge Load Rating Mobility and how it can be leveraged by stake holders to assist in making those financial decisions. The paper covers a basic explanation of current bridge load rating methodology and an introduction to the innovative concept of Load Rating Mobility. Added, is a single bridge case study and discussion of a steel multi-girder highway bridge and how it pertains to this new concept, Load Rating Mobility. This research concludes by presenting a collection of all influence variables in a sensitivity analysis of steel multi-girder bridge to those variables and its positive load rating variability. This paper provides a methodology by which Load Rating Mobility may be used to avoid the diminishing returns inherent in what will most certainly become large scale bridge re-evaluations.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

78 pages

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Bryan Keith Stephens

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