Suspension Bridge, Basic and Advanced Concepts & Structural Evaluation

Course Description:

This presentation will mention about basic Concepts in the field of suspension bridges. A suspension bridge is a special type of bridge in which loads from the bridge deck are carried by vertical suspenders that are supported by suspension cables suspended between towers and anchored at both ends of the bridge. Suspension bridges are showing signs of distress due to aging and improper repair or rehabilitation or lack of proper maintenance. Normally visual inspections (including 100% hands on inspection of fracture critical fatigue prone details) are done for structural evaluation of critical components of a suspension bridge. Extending the service life of aging suspension bridges is very important for the transportation industry. Proper Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) can identify most of the structural problems. Thereafter, necessary repair/rehabilitation can be executed with minimum funding. This presentation will mention existing/new structural evaluation techniques of suspension bridges based on author’s personal structural evaluation experience of high-rise suspension bridges

Suspension Bridge, Advanced Concepts & Structural Evaluation : Afternoon Session 1:00pm to 5:00pm-

4 Professional Development Credits 

• Advanced knowledge of suspension bridges
• Fracture critical and fatigue prone details of a suspension bridge
• Comparison of highway and railroad loading on suspension bridges
• Advanced structural evaluation techniques of suspension bridges
• Reasons for structural failure of suspension bridges
• Structural problems of  NY state suspension bridges carrying highway and railroad traffic
• Innovative structure evaluation techniques of suspension bridges
• What is Risk Rating and Condition Rating in BAM?
• Correlation between Condition Rating and Risk Rating
• What is a Weibull distribution function?
• How Statistical Data analysis performed using the Weibull distribution function?
• How can the earlier research be used by the Bridge Maintenance Agency decision makers in forecasting the degradation rate of their bridge system?

Course Description:

This presentation mentions about advanced concepts in the field of suspension bridges. Structural failure of a suspension bridge may be a combination of poor design, construction, maintenance, failure to inspect fracture critical and fatigue prone details thoroughly, severe weather conditions or a combination of all these factors. Suspension bridges are more susceptible to vibration due to flexibility compared to other rigid bridges. In design, there are variations in the type of vehicular and railroad live load. The dynamic effect by railroad traffic is more significant than vehicular traffic on a suspension bridge. Railroad traffic can be allowed on suspension bridge under specific circumstances. This presentation contains rail specific information that is relevant to structural evaluation of suspension bridges carrying railroad traffic and or vehicular traffic. This presentation will mention existing/new structural evaluation techniques of suspension bridges based on author’s personal structural evaluation experience of high-rise suspension bridges.

Instructor:

Avinash Prasad, PE, LS, F.ASCE, FF, EMT

Mr. Avinash Prasad is a Licensed Professional Engineer and Land Surveyor with more than 25 years of civil engineering and project management experience. As a registered professional engineer and land surveyor (NJ, NY, CT, MA, RI), he specializes in bridge asset management and structural evaluation of bridges, particularly suspension bridges. He is currently researching bridge asset management for his doctoral dissertation at New York University.  He has received dual MS degrees in Civil Engineering and Engineering Management from NJIT and a BS degree in Civil Engineering from India. He has more than 1000 hours of continuing professional education as instructor/participating professional. He is a NJ state certified emergency medical technician (EMT), emergency medical responder (EMR), and firefighter (FF). He is also a certified CPR, AED administer. He is a fellow of American Society of Civil Engineers and an active member of several professional organizations such as: AREMA, PMI, AISC, NYSAPLS, IPWE, IRT and IIBE. The ASCE, Railway Age and Railway Track & Structure conference proceedings has accepted many of his technical papers for presentation and/or publication.