Load Rating Highway Bridges: In Accordance with Load and Resistance Factor Method

LOAD RATING HIGHWAY BRIDGES In accordance with Load and Resistance Factor Rating Method First Edition The first comprehensive text introducing the background theory along with the practical procedure of load rating highway bridges with the state-of-the-art Load and Resistance Factor Rating (LRFR) method. With its simplicity and complete contents on this subject, this is an indispensable text for both students and practicing engineers. The safety of bridges is essential to the traveling public. To ensure that bridges in our highway system function safely and serve properly, engineers need to inspect and assess the live load carrying capacity of the bridges. Based on the results of inspection and evaluation, decisions are made on load restriction, repair, retrofit or replacement. Load rating, one of the critical tasks in this decision-making process, uses either an analytical method or non-destructive load testing to determine the live load carrying capacity of a bridge. This is a book solely concentrated on bridge load rating by using analytical load rating methods, with a focus on the LRFR method. The primary purpose of this book is to provide the basic concept of load rating highway bridges in terms of the LRFR method. The target readers are practicing engineers who want to acquire fundamental knowledge of the LRFR method. Bearing that in mind, the author attempts to strike a balance between theory and how-to. Engineers who are conducting or will perform load ratings of bridges can use this text as a reference in supplement to the AASHTO Manual for Bridge Evaluation (MBE). This book can also serve as a textbook or supplemental material for a senior level undergraduate or graduate course in bridge design and load rating. This text is divided into three major sections. The first section contains a brief introduction to bridge load rating (Chapter 1) and fundamentals of structural failure and structural reliability theory (Chapter 2). After completing this section, re


About the Author
Lubin Gao is currently a Senior Bridge Engineer at FHWA. Prior to FHWA, he worked as a Principal and Senior Bridge Engineer at private consulting companies in the United States. He was involved in the design and construction engineering services of different types of bridges including segmental, cable-supported and short/medium-span conventional bridges in the United States and overseas. He also founded a small software company to develop a finite element method-based bridge analysis and design software suite. He had served as an Associate Professor and Senior Bridge Engineer in China for a number of years. He has a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering, a M.S. degree in Solid Mechanics, and a Ph.D. degree in Bridge Engineering. He is a registered professional engineer in VA.