Full-Scale Field Capacity Tests of a Railway Bridge

摘要

Full scale ultimate load tests of the bearings of the Strawberry Park Bridge wereconnected in March 1995. This was a two span 148 ft long ballasted railway bridge, typical of many railway briges around the country. The bridge was located in Los Angeles and it was scheduled for removal in spring 1995. This fact allowed for the performance of failure push tests of the bridge with the pushing loads applied at the abutments of the bridge. The main objective of this experiment was to begin to identify the extent to which the unique railway bridge components, consisting of the rails, ties, ballast and ballast pan, contribute to the lateral load and displacement capacity during a seismic event.