Díaz-Alvarez, Henry

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    Bending and shear load rating of an arch ring bridge
    (2011) Díaz-Alvarez, Henry; Suárez, Luis E.; College of Engineering; Ramos, Ricardo; Portela, Genock; Department of Civil Engineering; Hajek, Darrell
    This MS thesis entails an analytical study of the structural behavior of a concrete arch beam from the Lahontan Dam Spillway Bridge located in the city on Fallon, NV. This comes as a necessity from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers specifically the Sacramento District due to the unknown capacity of the existing bridge. This project focuses on the load rating calculations for the bridge using two different methods of evaluation. The bridge was rated using the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) standards which include the Load Factor Rating (LFR) and the Load Resistance Factor Rating (LRFR) methods. The bridge is 97 years old and consists of five continuous spans that have three cast-inplace reinforced concrete arch beams. The exterior beams have a stem width of half the size of the interior beam, therefore both beam types were evaluated for this study. At the time of this study the bridge had been closed for almost two years due to its uncertain structural conditions. Structural cracks were present on several locations along the bridge. Since the structural capacity of the bridge was unknown, it was necessary to perform a live load analysis with the intention of determining its safe live load carrying capacity. A finite element model (FEM) was developed to study in detail the performance of the arch beams under different load scenarios. The two structural parameters chosen for evaluation were the capacity under flexion and capacity under shear. The rating factors (RF) results for both design HS20-44 and HL93 notional vehicles were less than unity. Load rating results under the AASHTO legal loads, Type 3, Type 3S2 and Type 3-3 showed that the bridge requires a limit weight posting sign.