Design loads on Bridges

Sequence of Presentation
• Loads
– Gravity, Lateral, Deformation, Collision
– AASHTO LRFD HL-93
– PCPHB 1967 Class A and Class AA Loading
• Fatigue Loads
• Multiple Presence
• Dynamic Effect
• Centrifugal forces
• Braking Force
• Fluid Forces
• Seismic Loads
• Ice Loads
• Forces due to Deformation
• Seismic Design Procedure (generalized steps)
Loads
• “If there were No Loads, Every Body Could Have been a Bridge Engineer!”

• What is Load?

• Load Categories
– Gravity Loads
– Lateral Loads
– Forces due to deformation
– Collision Loads

• Force Effects:
A deformation or a stress resultant, i.e. thrust, shear, torque/or moment, caused
by applied loads, imposed deformation or volumetric changes
Loads
• Why to Quantify Reasonable Magnitude of each Load?
– The loads that a structure will be called upon to sustain, cannot be predicted with certainty.
– The strength of the various components cannot be assessed with full assertion.
– The condition of a structure may deteriorate with time causing it to loose strength.

• Gravity Loads
– These are results of weight
– Act in downward direction toward the center of the earth. Such loads may be:
• Permanent Gravity Loads
• Transient Gravity Loads
Loads
• Gravity Loads
– Permanent gravity loads are the loads that remain on the bridge for an extended period of time or
for the whole service life.
– Such loads include:
• Dead load of structural components and non structural attachments - DC
• Dead load of wearing surfaces and utilities – DW
• Dead load of earth fill –EV
• Earth pressure load -EH
• Earth Surcharge load-ES
• Downdrag-DD
• DC
– In bridges, structural components are the elements that are part of load resistance system.
– Nonstructural attachments refer to such items as curbs, parapets, barriers, rails, signs ,
illuminators, etc.
– Load factors will be discussed in following slides
Loads
• Gravity Loads
– Permanent gravity loads are the loads that remain on the bridge for an extended period of time or
for the whole service life.
• Down Drag (DD)
– It is the force exerted on a piles or drilled shaft due to the soil movement around the element.
Such a force is permanent and typically increases with time.
– For details refer to AASHTO (LRFD) Section 10, Foundations.

• Gravity Loads : Transient Loads

– These loads change with time and may be applied
from several directions
– Highly variable
– Loads include vehicular, rail or pedestrian traffic

• Engineer should be able to foresee

– which of these loads are appropriate for the bridge
under consideration
– magnitude of the loads
– how these loads are applied for the most critical load
effect.
AASHTO LRFD Loading
• Traffic Lane vs Design Lane
– For design the Designer MUST fix the number of lanes that a bridge may carry

– Two such terms are used in the design of a bridge:

• Traffic lane
• Design Lane.

– Traffic Lane:
The traffic lane is the number of lanes of traffic that the Traffic Engineer plans for the bridge.
Typically it is 3.6 m (12 ft)

– Design Lane:
Design lane is the lane designation used by the bridge engineer for the live load placement, equals
3m (10 ft)
AASHTO LRFD Loading
– Reference to figure:
PhD Thesis Dr. Akhtar Naeem Khan 1996 “Development of Design Criteria for Continuous
Composite I-Beam Bridges with Skew & Right Alignment”
AASHTO LRFD Loading
• AASHTO LRFD uses a 3m (10 ft) Lane for design in which the vehicle is positioned
for extreme effect

• The number of design lanes is defined by taking the integer part of the ratio of the
clear roadway width divided by 3.6m.[A3.6.1.1.1]

• The clear width is the distance between the curbs and/or barriers.

• The direction of traffic in the present and future design scenarios should be
considered and the most critical cases should be used for design

• Additionally, there may be construction and/or detour plans that cause traffic
patterns to be significantly restricted or altered. Such situations may control some
aspects of the design loading

• Transverse positioning of trucks is automatically accounted for in the live-load

distribution factors outlined in AASHTO
AASHTO LRFD Loading
HL-93 Loading
• Highway Load developed in 1993
• The objective of this model is to prescribe a set of loads such that the same
extreme load effects of the HL- 93 model are approximately the same as the
exclusion vehicles

• Some vehicles although above “legal” limits, were allowed to operate routinely
due to “grandfathering” provisions in state statutes. These vehicles are referred to
as exclusion vehicles.

• Typically, these loads are short-haul vehicles such as solid waste trucks and
concrete mixers
AASHTO LRFD Loading
• This model consists of three distinctly different live loads:
❑ Design truck
❑ Design tandem
❑ Design lane load
AASHTO LRFD Loading
• The design truck is the same configuration that has been used by AASHTO (2002)
Standard Specifications since 1944 and is commonly referred to as HS20

• The H denotes highway, the S denotes semitrailer, and the 20 is the weight of the
tractor in tons

❑ Design tandem
• The second is the design tandem
• It consists of two axles weighing 25 kips (110 kN) each spaced at 4 ft (1200 mm),
which is similar to the tandem axle used in previous AASHTO Standard
Specifications except the load is changed from 24 to 25 kips (110 kN)
AASHTO LRFD Loading
❑ Design lane
• The third load is the design lane load that consists of a uniformly distributed load
of 0.64 kips/ft (9.3 N/mm) and is assumed to occupy a region 10 ft (3000 mm)
transversely

• This load is the same as a uniform pressure of 64 lb/sft (3.1 kPa) applied in a 10-ft
(3000-mm) design lane
AASHTO LRFD Loading
❑ HL-93
• The load effects of the design truck and the design tandem must each be
superimposed with the load effects of the design lane load.
• This combination of lane and axle loads is a major deviation from the
requirements of the earlier AASHTO Standard Specifications, where the loads were
considered separately.
• These loads are not designed to model any one vehicle or combination
of
vehicles, but rather the spectra of loads and their associated load effects.
AASHTO LRFD Loading
❑ HL-93
• HS20-44
AASHTO LRFD Loading
❑ HL-93
• Design truck & Design Lane Load
AASHTO LRFD Loading
❑ HL-93
• Design Lane Load
AASHTO LRFD Loading
• When positioning is required for cases where analysis is used or required, the
engineer must position the trucks for the critical load effect

• For exterior girders, this requires placing one wheel of a truck within 2 ft (600 mm)
from the curb or barrier. The next truck, if considered, is placed within 4 ft (1200
mm) of the first. A third truck, if required, is placed within 6 ft (1800 mm) of the
second so as to not infringe upon the traffic lane requirement
AASHTO LRFD Loading
• For an interior girder, one wheel is placed over a girder and the position of others
follows a similar pattern. From a practical perspective, all trucks can be
conservatively placed transversely within 4 ft (1200 mm) of each other with little
loss of “accuracy” when compared to the specification intent.
AASHTO LRFD Loading
• In summary, three design loads should be considered: the design truck, design
tandem, and design lane
• These loads are superimposed three ways to yield the live-load effects, which
are
combined with the other load effects
• These cases are illustrated in Table below where the number in the table indicates
the appropriate multiplier to be used prior to superposition. The term multiplier is
used to avoid confusion with the load factors
Pakistan Code of Practice for Highway Bridges 1967
• Mainly adapted from AASHTO Standard 1961 8th Edt

• Section 2.4 Highway Loading

– Class “A” Loading
– Class “B” Loading

• Class B loading is 60% of Class A loading

• Section 4 “Military Loading”

Pakistan Code of Practice for Highway Bridges 1967
Pakistan Code of Practice for Highway Bridges 1967
Assignment # 01
• Prepare a Spreadsheet in Excel for finding the Bending Moment at Mid-Span:
– HS20-44 Truck
– Tandem Load
– Class A Truck
– Class AA Tank
• The span of the bridge is 30 meters (to start with)
• Hints to follow:
– The span has to be input and can be changed in a cell
– Level-1: The span Input is ensured to be correct within limits
– Level-2: Any span between 6.1m to 75m can be used
– Due Date: To be mutually decided

• Use “mm”, “KN”, “KN-m” etc.

Q&A

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