Temperature Effects in Bridge Condition Evaluation and Capacity Rating in Oklahoma

Oklahoma's climate ranges from humid subtropical in the east to semi-arid in the west. While summers are long and usually hot, periods of extreme cold during the winter months are infrequent. The daily and seasonal temperature variations acting on a bridge can lead to nonlinear temperature distributions through key structural elements due to low thermal conductivity of concrete and temporal/spatial variation of ambient temperature. For statically indeterminate or geometrically skewed bridges, this temperature variation may induce stresses that represent a significant percentage of the direct stress capacity of the bridge, and may lead to unacceptable performance in service. Finite Element Analysis will be used to perform heat flow and thermal stress analysis. Simplified structural models will be developed in MatLab to obtain accurate and time-efficient thermal stress analysis. Daily and seasonal temperature profiles will be developed for Oklahoma counties based upon Oklahoma Mesonet data to support the consideration of temperature effect in bridge evaluation. Reliability-based assessment of thermal stress development under temperature extremes will be performed. Guidelines that are specific to Oklahoma bridge construction practices and climatology that incorporate temperature effects in bridge evaluation and capacity rating will be developed.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $239628.00
• Contract Numbers:

  DTRT13-G-UTC36

  SPTC 14.2-21

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  University Transportation Centers Program
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  University of Oklahoma, Norman

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

  Oklahoma Department of Transportation

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

  White, Luther

  Muraleetharan, Kanthasamy

  Wang, Naiyu

• Start Date: 20141101
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 20161031
• Source Data: RiP Project 38044

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bridge members; Condition surveys; Humidity; Load factor; Structural analysis; Temperature
• Uncontrolled Terms: Seasonal variations
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Transportation (General);

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01543447
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Southern Plains Transportation Center
• Contract Numbers: DTRT13-G-UTC36, SPTC 14.2-21
• Files: UTC, RiP
• Created Date: Nov 15 2014 1:00AM