Degree
Master of Engineering Science
Program
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Supervisor
Dr. F.M. Bartlett
Abstract
Military vehicles frequently use civilian bridges. The loading effects of military vehicles, both wheeled and tracked, are specific and different than those of civilian vehicles in normal traffic. Calibration to determine appropriate load factors for military loading of civilian bridges has not been fully performed and the corresponding levels of safety have not been quantified. This lack of calibration prevents the implementation of limit state design methods for military bridges and the evaluation bridges for military loading. This thesis quantifies probabilistically the single lane traffic load effects on interior girders of simply supported slab-on-girder bridges for three military vehicles in use by the Canadian Forces with corresponding load factors for design and evaluation. General categories of military vehicles are proposed with associated partial load factors for application in military bridge design and evaluation.
Keywords: Bridge evaluation, Military vehicle, Live load, Load factors, Limit state design, Code calibration, Military engineering, Bridges, Simply-Supported Spans, Slab-on-Girder
Recommended Citation
MacDonald, Andrew J., "Applying Probabilistic Methods to the NATO Military Load Classification System for Bridges" (2014). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 2570.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/2570