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Experimental Dynamic Response of a Short-Span Composite Bridge to Military Vehicles |
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| Authors: | M. J. Robinson J. B. Kosmatka |
| Affiliation: | 1Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, SD 57701; formerly, Postdoctoral Researcher, Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (corresponding author). E-mail: marc.robinson@sdsmt.edu 2Professor, Dept. of Structural Engineering, Univ. of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0085. E-mail: jkosmatka@ucsd.edu |
| Abstract: | A continued desire for increased mobility in the aftermath of natural disasters or on the battlefield has lead to the need for improved lightweight bridging solutions. Currently, within the U.S. military, there is a need for a lightweight bridging system for crossing short-span gaps up to 4 m (13.1 ft) in length. This paper describes the field testing of a newly developed lightweight fiber-reinforced polymer bridging system to meet the U.S. militaries needs. The study investigates dynamic impact loads of track and wheel vehicles at different crossing speeds to increase understanding of appropriate impact factors used in design. It was found that the impact loads for the bridge treadways were most sensitive to vehicle crossing speed and vehicle type (wheel versus track and axle spacing) with observed impact factors as high as 1.71. |
| Keywords: | Bridges, composite Composite fiber reinforced materials Military engineering Dynamic loads Impact loads |