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According to the bridge location and bridge type, the above mentioned
loads should be selected appropriately during the structural design and
analysis, but not necessarily consider all the loads. Major loads considered
in the bridge design are discussed below.
service lives are generally decades or even more than a hundred years. There-
fore, the appropriate calculations or predictions for future service loads are
necessary. Furthermore, the position of a live load may change, so each
member of the structure must be designed for the position of the load that
causes the maximum internal sectional forces inducing maximum stress in
that member.
For highway bridges, the live load includes the vehicle load and sidewalk
load. The live load generally varies according to bridge locations and the
traffic conditions of the oversize vehicles. The design live load is diverse
for different design specifications, and some representative live loads used
in the engineering practice are listed below.
600 mm general
1800 mm 300 mm deck overhang
Fig. 4.1 Design truck in AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications (AASHTO, 2007).
74 Bridge Engineering
200 kN
200
100 kN 100 kN
500
500 500
Fig. 4.2 T-load in Japanese bridge design specification (unit: mm).
Loads and Load Distribution 75
1
2
2 1
which each axle consists of four wheel load 1 m apart. Both, two front axles
and two back axles are 1.8 m apart with a set of variable distance between
second and third axle to produce the most critical effect. As specified in the
code, the minimum units to be considered are 25 and may go up to 45 if
directed by the appropriate authority. The BS5400 was replaced by the
Eurocodes for the newly designed bridges built after 2010 but still remains
as the basis of the assessment standards for the existing bridges.
1200
2000
400
400
taken as 9 kN/m2 for the defined primary lane and 2.5 kN/m2 for the
remaining area as specified in Table 4.4.
Load Model 2 (LM2) is a single axle load applied on specific tyre contact
areas which covers the dynamic effects of the normal traffic on short
structural member (EN 1991-2, 2003). The load has a magnitude of βQQak
with Qak ¼ 400 kN, and βQ specified in the National Annex of each country
adopting the Eurocode. Load Model 3 (LM3) is a set of assemblies of axle
loads representing special vehicles (e.g., for industrial transport), which
can travel on routes permitted for abnormal loads. It is intended for general
and local verifications. Load Model 4 (LM4), generally known as crowd
loading is represented by a Load model consisting of a uniformly distributed
load (which includes dynamic simplification) equal to 5 kN/m2.
Pk
qk
and 360 kN, respectively. For a bridge span length from 5 to 50 m, the con-
centrated load is determined according to the first-order interpolation of
the bridge length. For the design of Grade B highway bridge, the load is taken
as 0.75 of the design load as specified for Grade A highway bridge.
The size dimension and transverse distribution of the design truck load
specified in Chinese design specification are shown in Figs. 4.6 and 4.7,
respectively.
4.4 IMPACT
When live loads are moving rapidly across a structure, they cause larger
stresses than those that would be produced if the same loads would have been
applied gradually due to the road roughness, expansion joint, and vibration of
the engine etc. This dynamic effect of the load is referred to as impact in the
bridge design. Live loads expected to cause such a dynamic effect on structures
are increased by impact factors. The stress increase due to the impact is taken
into account by using the following equation:
σ ¼ σ s + σ d ¼ σ s ð1 + iÞ (4.1)
where i is the impact factor.
(A)
1.8
2.5
(B)
Fig. 4.6 Size dimensions of design truck in China (unit: m). (A) Front view. (B) Plan view.
Loads and Load Distribution 79
The impact factor of a bridge is closely related to the bridge span length,
structural type, the ratio between the dead load and the live load etc. In
Japanese bridge design specification, the impact factor is determined
according to the type of the bridges, as shown in Table 4.5. In addition,
the span length should be taken accordingly based on the bridge type and
structural type etc.
4.5 WIND
Wind loads are produced by the flow of wind around structures. In the
bridge design, the wind load is defined as the wind pressure on the bridge. Wind
load magnitudes vary with the peak wind speed, type of terrain etc. For large
span bridges, especially the cable-stayed bridge and suspension bridge, wind
load is an important design load and often play a critical role that affacts the
Table 4.5 Impact Factor in Japan Bridge Design Specification
Bridge Type Impact Factor Note
20
Steel bridge i¼ Both truck load and lane load
50 + L
20
RC bridge i¼ Truck load
50 + L
7
i¼ Lane load
20 + L
20
PC bridge i¼ Truck load
50 + L
10
i¼ Lane load
25 + L