Design of Integral Abutment Bridges in Extreme Climate

Integral Abutment Bridges (IAB) are bridges without any expansion joints within the bridge deck or between the superstructure (deck and girders) and the abutments. An IAB provides many advantages during construction and maintenance phases of a bridge service life. The complex interactions occurring in an IAB between the superstructure, abutments, foundations, and soils, however, are still poorly understood. Lack of national design standards for IABs has led to a contradictory and confusing array of design and construction practices. These issues are further exacerbated by the impact of extreme variations in temperature and moisture. The research will utilize data collected from an instrumented Oklahoma IAB and computer models to develop readily implementable design and construction guidelines for IABs in areas with extreme variations in temperature and moisture. Using available climate data, such as the Oklahoma Mesonet, expected temperature and soil moisture changes across U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Region 6 will be established. Computer models of IABs will be used to conduct a parametric study using these variations. The parameters considered will include: types, numbers, orientation, length and different installations of abutment piles; different embankment and foundation soil conditions; various abutment backfill materials such as Expandable Polystyrene (EPS) blocks, Controlled Low Strength Material (CLSM) and compacted and non-compacted granular fill; and length and skew of the bridge. The computer models will include simplified computer codes LPILE and GROUP as well as a sophisticated fully-coupled computer code TeraDysac. Effect of moisture variations in the embankment, backfill, and subsurface soil will be incorporated into the models using unsaturated soil mechanics principles. The results of the parametric study and discussions with Oklahoma Department of Transportation (ODOT) bridge engineers will be used to develop readily implementable design and construction guidelines for IABs. The developed guidelines will then be refined through discussions with bridge engineers.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $399972.00
• Contract Numbers:

  DTRT13-G-UTC36

  SPTC 14.1-52

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Oklahoma Department of Transportation

  200 NE 21st Street
  Oklahoma City, OK  United States  73105

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  University Transportation Centers Program
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Performing Organizations:

  University of Oklahoma, Norman

  School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science
  202 West Boyd Street, Room 334
  Norman, OK  United States  73019
• Principal Investigators:

  Miller, Gerald

  Muraleetharan, Kanthasamy

• Start Date: 20140801
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20160731
• Source Data: RiP Project 37444

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Backfill soils; Bridge abutments; Bridge decks; Bridge superstructures; Expansion joints; Flowable fill; Jointless bridges; Service life; Temperature; Weather conditions
• Geographic Terms: Oklahoma
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Construction; Design; Highways; I30: Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01543048
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Southern Plains Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: DTRT13-G-UTC36, SPTC 14.1-52
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Nov 4 2014 1:00AM