Development of Live Load Model for Ethiopian Short to Medium Span Bridges
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Date
2020-12
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This thesis assesses the development of a new live load model for Ethiopian bridges that
reflects the actual developments of the growing traffic. To have a clear idea of the
research idea different countries' experiences and models were explored to have the best
benchmark practice that helps to replicate to our context.
The subject of interest of this paper is to explore the existing traffic loading model in
Ethiopia and have contributed to its role in identifying the strength and weaknesses of
this model. A Quantitative research design used to be applied for the study and efforts
were made to use data from Static Weighing Stations obtained from the Ethiopian Roads
Authority from three sites, which consists of 35,000 truck loading data in total. A
simulation program was developed for the calculation of static load effects for simply
supported bridges spanning up to 50m. Extreme 75-year loads obtained using different
statistical extrapolation methods and the data was used to compare the loading effects
generated from the actual trucks with the loading effects of the trucks used in the
Ethiopian Bridge Design Manual. The result shows that the traffic loading effects
obtained from the analysis vary from the currently adopted practice of the Ethiopian
bridge design manual that demands to increase either the design load or the factor of
safeties indicating the need for further research to reflect the existing reality.
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Keywords
Bridge, Traffic Load, Load Effect, Static Weighing Stations