Analysis of Bridge Truck Loads

by W. David Lui, Imbsen & Associates Inc, United States,
C. Allin Cornell, Imbsen & Associates Inc, United States,
R. A. Imbsen, Imbsen & Associates Inc, United States,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Probabilistic Methods in Civil Engineering

Abstract:

The development of the reliability-based load and resistance factor design (LRFD) methodology requires uncertainties in loads and resistance be quantified. In the load capacity evaluation of bridge structures, it is recognized that randomness/uncertainty associated with the live load effect is by far the greatest and deserves closer scrutiny. Further development in the information-sensitive code formulation provides the facility to refine the uncertainty analysis which would explicitly account for the site-to-site variability in the live load. Another development in recent years which makes this scrutiny possible is that, for the first time, unbiased truck load data are collected on a large scale. In this paper, statistics of truck loading variables at several sites are presented and the implications to site-specific load model development are discussed.

Subject Headings: Vehicle loads | Load bearing capacity | Live loads | Load and resistance factor design | Load factors | Trucks | Uncertainty principles

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