Load Test and Load Rating of an Innovative Recycled Plastic Lumber (RPL) Bridge

摘要

The Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) bridge team evaluated the world'sfirst thermoplastic composite bridge to determine the appropriate military load classification(MLC) and civilian load rating of the structure. Live-load tests were conducted on bridge T-8518 located on Tuckers Road in Camp Mackall near Fort Bragg, NC. The bridge wasdesigned to be capable of supporting loads exceeding 70 tons and to replace a dilapidatedtimber bridge, which was limited to a maximum load of 4.7 tons. Initial load testing wasrequired to obtain the responses of the bridge to live loads in order to determine its loadcapacity ratings and to establish whether or not the recycled plastic lumber (RPL) structurecould safely carry an M1 tank.Results from the load test were used for numerical evaluations using a finite-elementanalysis (FEA) of the entire superstructure. Both field data and FEA results were reasonablyaccurate. The RPL bridge generally performed in a normal linear-elastic manner, relativelysmall visco-elastic responses were observed with the heavier M1 tank. This paper describesthe behavior of the RPL bridge under civilian and military moving loads and providesstructural performance information.