08.22
I am giving a short talk on Tuesday about designing pier columns to meet the AASHTO 400 kip collision load.
I found this new paper, “ANALYSIS OF LARGE TRUCK COLLISIONS WITH BRIDGE PIERS: PHASE 1. REPORT OF GUIDELINES FOR DESIGNING BRIDGE PIERS AND ABUTMENTS FOR VEHICLE COLLISIONS” FHWA/TX-10-4973-1, online from the Texas Transportation Institute, which gives an overview of the design process.
The paper has Mathcad examples in the back but I think there are some inconsistencies in their use of beta /theta and tensile strain factors.
I think the most important point in the paper was the discussion of the shear failure mechanism due to an impact force. Two shear planes should be used in an analysis, which boils down to multiplying the column shear strength by a factor of two. This really boosts the shear capacity of our typical pier columns and helps them meet the AASHTO requirements. I will post some of my talk later…..
Similar Posts:
- Creating the Te Rewa Rewa Bridge – New Zealand
- Judging a bridge concept
You might like to read.