Rehabilitative Design & Structural Health Monitoring of New Harmony Bridge

Abstract

This project analyzes the structural design of the New Harmony Bridge and suggests a redesign of the deck in order to meet modern standards. The New Harmony Bridge (opened in 1930) holds a significant historic value which attracts a high public interest. The age of the bridge is again reinforced in the unique structural elements such as rolled Carnegie steel shapes throughout the bridge and its use of the K truss. Sensors were strategically placed on the bridge to measure short-term moving loads over multiple tests. These results provide insight as to how the structure reacts to different load cases which is useful considering the bridge has been out of commission since 2012. More specifically, these tests explore any load sharing capabilities the beams may have. Additionally, a conceptual design for the repaired concrete deck was developed using shear studs to achieve a composite beam design. This included 2D models in RISA to determine demand and analyses in Microsoft Excel to determine capacity. The overall goal is for the redesign to withstand the loading of an HS-20 per AASHTO code.