New types of timber bridges are being designed and constructed on the basis of a new joining technique called laminating. At west virginia university, designers have combined this new technology with a new timber product, laminated veneer lumber, to create a t-beam bridge. The process of designing this bridge required a limited research project because of the lack of design guides. The tests performedare described and many of the results of these tests are included. The bridge was constructed in may 1988, after which a monitoring program was initiated. These tests are also described and results tabulated. Short-term performance f the bridges appears excellent; the long-term performance remains unmeasured. Costs of this bridge are included, as are the authors' recommendations for future bridges of this type. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1275, Bridge research 1990.
Samenvatting