Controlled load tests on a four girder steel bridge

The Holston River Bridge project provided an excellent opportunity to examine the response of an actual structure to applied loads. During the course of the project response to both actual traffic loading and to controlled loading was measured. This thesis examines the data collected during the controlled load tests and outlines the means by which it was collected.

Methods currently used to distribute applied loads to the main structural members have been found to produce very conservative results in several cases. This project made it possible to compare actual measured response to the response calculated by various means. The measured responses were compared to AASHTO values and to values calculated by a method developed by another researcher. The later, an extension of the Guyon-Massonet method, was found to produce less conservative but more accurate results than the AASHTO method.

Full speed and crawl test data were analyzed in to calculate dynamic impact factors for this These values were also compared to the values order structure. used by AASHTO.