Innovations Series

New Approaches for Rapid Fabrication and Construction of Resilient Steel Bridges

Harnessing innovative fabrication techniques and modular approaches offers enormous potential for the rapid construction of resilient steel bridges. This presentation will focus on two projects that incorporate fabrication as an integral part of design, use modularity for its benefits in cost and time savings, and prioritize redundancy for improved safety: (1) steel truss bridges made up of modular joints and (2) built-up, press-brake formed tub girder (PBTG) bridges.

The modular joint for truss bridges introduces a new paradigm in modular design: where the joint is the module and the members are wide flange sections. Flanges and webs are connected independently through bolted splices, forming a moment-resisting connection that provides system redundancy as the structure can tolerate member loss.

Research in built-up PBTGs – made up of cold bent webs bolted to flat, top and bottom flange plates – aims to reduce the time for fabrication through taking advantage of adjacent industries. As compared to PBTGs that are formed from a single steel plate, built-up PBTGs offer (1) increased spans as deeper and thicker flanges can be used and (2) enhanced resiliency as the bolted-up section provides internal member redundancy. This is a kit-of-parts approach, where the “part” is the cold bent web.

Learning Objectives:

The audience will be able to:

• Recognize two new approaches for modular steel bridge construction with enhanced redundancy

• Compare different fabrication approaches and how these approaches can be incorporated into design

• Classify different types of structural redundancy for the modular systems

Registration

This is a virtual event on Zoom. All registrants MUST have a free Zoom account to access the webinar.

Members - FREE
Nonmembers - $40

About the Speaker

 Ashley P. Thrall, PhD
Myron and Rosemary Noble Associate Professor of Structural Engineering, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering & Earth Sciences
University of Notre Dame
Ashley P. Thrall is the Myron and Rosemary Noble Associate Professor of Structural Engineering at the University of Notre Dame where she directs the Kinetic Structures Laboratory. Her research investigates the behavior of modular, rapidly constructable, and deployable structures using numerical and experimental approaches.