ASCE will be sunsetting the Civil Engineering Database (CEDB) in the coming months. We encourage you to start using the ASCE Library to perform content searches. In the ASCE Library, you can save your search results as well as receive email content alerts when new content relevant to your area of interest is published. Try it out today at https://ascelibrary.org.

 

Spread Footings Revisited: Geotechnical Advances Lead to Expanded Use for Bridge Abutments

by Derrick Dasenbrock, P.E., (M.ASCE), Geotechnical Engineer; Minnesota Department of Transportation, Maplewood, MN, dasenbrock@state.mn.us,


Serial Information: Geo-Strata —Geo Institute of ASCE, 2015, Vol. 19, Issue 1, Pg. 34-39


Document Type: Feature article

Abstract:

The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) has historically used steel shell piles to support highway bridge structures, probably due to a blend of familiarity and efficiency among designers, contractors, and inspectors. In the not-too-distant past, use of spread footings for bridge structures was almost exclusively limited to sites with exposed or very near-surface bedrock. Anecdotally, engineers can recall projects where piles were driven as little as 1.8 m to bedrock to provide foundation support. Concrete piles, H-piles, drilled shafts, and shallow foundations collectively represent less than 20 percent of MnDOT's bridge foundations, although shallow foundation construction is now becoming more common.

Subject Headings: Shallow foundations | Pile foundations | Foundation construction | Bridge foundations | Steel bridges | Highway bridges | Concrete piles

 

Return to search