Field testing and structural analysis of Burr arch covered bridges in Pennsylvania

Douglas R. Rammer; James Wacker; Travis Hosteng; Justin Dahlberg; Yaohua Deng

Treesearch

Field testing and structural analysis of Burr arch covered bridges in Pennsylvania

Formally Refereed

Authors:

Douglas R. Rammer, James Wacker, Travis Hosteng, Justin Dahlberg, Yaohua Deng

Year:

2016

Type:

Paper

Station:

Forest Products Laboratory

Source:

WCTE 2016, World Conference on Timber Engineering, August 22-25, 2016, Vienna, Austria.

Download (PDF 2.02 MB)

Download (PDF 2.02 MB): https://research.fs.usda.gov/download/treesearch/52728.pdf

Abstract

The Federal Highway Administration sponsored a comprehensive research program on Historic Covered Timber Bridges in the USA. This national program's main purpose is to develop improved methods to preserve, rehabilitate, and restore timber bridge trusses that were developed during the early 1800s and, in many cases, are still in service today. One of the many ongoing research studies is aimed at establishing a procedure for safely and reliably load-rating historic covered bridges though physical testing and improved structural modelling. This paper focuses on recent field work and analysis of four Burr Arch through-truss-type covered bridges located in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. An overview of field evaluation methods, loading testing, and structural modelling procedures are included along with a comparison of field measurements and structural model prediction of bridge behaviour

Keywords

loading rating, structural analysis, covered bridges, historical landmark, burr arch

Citation

Rammer, Douglas; Wacker, James; Hosteng, Travis; Dahlberg, Justin; Deng, Yaohua. 2016. Field testing and structural analysis of Burr Arch covered bridges in Pennsylvania. In: World Conference on Timber Engineering, WCTE 2016. 22-25 August 2016; Vienna, Austria. 10 pp.