Fundamentals of Steel Bridge Design - Part 3 (Self-Paced)
This course consists of lessons 11 through 14. Lesson 11A provides a general overview of the design of welded and bolted joints, and a detailed presentation of welded joints. The detailed presentation of bolted joints is in Lesson 11B. Lesson 12 deals with the design of tension and compression members; i.e. members subject to axial tension or compression. Lesson 13 provides an overview of various bearings and joints used in steel bridges. The joints and bearings shown accommodate a range of bridges having short to long spans, and as importantly, short and long total units. Lesson 14 includes several topics including: various types of decks that are used for steel bridges, and less common deck types such as metal grid decks and timber decks. The lesson will focus on the detailed analysis and design requirements for a concrete bridge deck contained in Section 9 of the AASHTO LRFD BDS and includes a complete design example.
Course Curriculum
| Session |
Description |
| Lesson 11a: General Concepts and Welded Connections | Lesson 11a provides a general overview of the design of welded and bolted joints, and a detailed presentation of welded joints. The detailed presentation of bolted joints is in Lesson 11b. First, some general information on the design of splices and connections according to the provisions of the AASHTO LRFD Specifications will be discussed.
Specific topics to be covered next on the design of welded joints include some general considerations; namely, examples of some typical welded joints in steel-girder bridges, the types of welds, the types of welded joints, the control of welding distortion, potential weld defects, weld inspection and control, the fatigue resistance of welded connections, and a general discussion on the factored resistance of welded connections. The design of groove-welded joints will be covered next, with the topics to include some general considerations regarding groove-welded joints, the types of groove-welded joints, the effective area of these joints, the calculation of the factored resistance of groove-welded joints, and the design provisions for welded splices. Next, the design of fillet-welded joints will be covered, with the topics to include some general considerations regarding fillet-welded joints, size requirements for fillet welds, the minimum effective length of a fillet-welded joint, fillet welds used for sealing, the calculation of the factored resistance of fillet-welded joints, and design examples illustrating the design of girder flange-to-web fillet welds, bearing stiffener-to-web fillet welds, an eccentrically loaded fillet-welded bracket connection, and a fillet-welded cross-frame member to gusset plate connection. |
| Lesson 11b and 11c: Bolted Connections and Girder Field Splices | Lesson 11b and 11c deal with the design of bolted joints. Specific topics to be covered on the design of bolted joints include some general considerations; namely, examples of some typical bolted joints in steel-girder bridges, slip-critical vs. bearing-type connections, high-strength bolts (including discussions of types, coating options, and installation methods), low-strength steel bolts, the fatigue resistance of bolted connections in shear, bolt holes, bolt spacing, and edge and end distance requirements. This will be followed by discussions on the calculation of the shear resistance, slip resistance, bearing resistance, and tensile resistance of bolted joints (along with some illustrative examples). The design of eccentrically loaded bolted connections will be discussed next; again, with two examples illustrating the importance of the connection work-point location. Finally, the AASHTO LRFD design requirements for the design of bolted field splices will be reviewed in detail and a complete design example will be provided illustrating the application of those requirements. |
| Lesson 12a, 12b and 12c: Tension and Compression Members | Lesson 12 deals with the design of tension and compression members; i.e. members subject to axial tension or compression. For tension members, topics to be covered in this lesson include an introduction to the different types of tension members that are typically utilized in steel-bridge structures, the calculation of the factored tensile resistance of these members using the AASHTO LRFD provisions (including illustrative examples), the limiting slenderness ratios that apply to these members, the design for combined loading on these members, ; i.e., loading consisting of any combination of axial tension, uniaxial or biaxial flexure, and flexural and/or torsional shear, and the design of built-up tension members. Similarly, for compression members, topics to be covered in this lesson include an introduction to the different types of compression members that are typically utilized in steel-bridge structures, the calculation of the factored compressive resistance of these members using the AASHTO LRFD provisions, the limiting slenderness ratios that apply to these members, the design for combined loading on these members; i.e., loading consisting of any combination of axial compression, uniaxial or biaxial flexure, and flexural and/or torsional shear (which includes an example illustrating the application of the these provisions to the design of a tee-section top lateral bracing member in a straight tub-girder bridge), the special design requirements for single-angle compression members (including an example illustrating the application of these provisions to the design of a single-angle member serving as the bottom strut of a cross-frame in a horizontally curved I-girder bridge), and the design of built-up compression members. |
| Lesson 13a and 13b: Bearings and Joints | Lesson 13 provides an overview of various bearings and joints used in steel bridges. The joints and bearings shown accommodate a range of bridges having short to long spans, and as importantly, short and long total units. The bearings and joints discussed in this lesson include those requiring only modest translations and rotations to those bearings and joints that may need to move by several feet to accommodate the intended function. The focus of the more detailed presentation is on more common joint and bearing types. Topics such as the proper selection of bearing and joint types for design loads, translations and rotations are presented. |
| Session 14a and 14b: Bridge Decks | Lesson 14 includes several major topics. The various types of decks that are used for steel bridges will be reviewed. This will include discussion of less common deck types such as metal grid decks and timber decks. The lesson will focus primarily on the detailed analysis and design requirements for a concrete bridge deck contained in Section 9 of the AASHTO LRFD BDS. A complete design example of the main longitudinal and transverse reinforcing steel for NSBA SBDH Design Example 1 is provided. |
Speaker
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Francesco Russo, PhD, PE, is founder and principal of Russo Structural Services, LLC. His 30+ year career in bridge engineering has included the design and rehabilitation of numerous routine and complex steel bridges. He is a two-time AISC award winner and has been awarded the Instructor of Excellence Award from FHWA for his nearly 20 years’ experience developing and teaching bridge design courses in multiple topics for the National Highway Institute. Russo Structural Services developed new standard plans for steel highway bridges and a companion continuing education course for AISC on the Fundamentals of Steel Bridge Engineering. |
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