摘要: |
This report presents the results tests and analyses performed on elastomeric bridge bearings. The focus of this research was the measurement of bearing deformations in the field and assessment of the feasibility of using instrumented elastomeric bearings to monitor bridge condition. The bearing deformations were successful measured in the field during the deck concrete pour and a static truck test. Shear, compression, rotation, and fatigue tests on full scale and model bearings have been carried out in the laboratory and at the manufacturer's facility. In the field, bearings often have a permanent shear offset, thus, some fatigue tests included initial offsets. The analyses support the testing and considered the bridge-bearing system. The stiffnesses of the bearings are explicitly included in the analyses.
It was found that bearing movements could be used confidently for short-term global purposes, such verification of analytical model boundary conditions or assessment of the bridge movement system. How bearing movements should be used with caution for local or long term purposes, such as determining bearing reactions on the piers.
This research was part of a comprehensive instrumented test bridge project. The instrumented bridge was a three-span slab-on-girder bridge with continuous rolled beams and integral abutments located north of Cincinnati, Ohio.
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