Date of Award

Winter 2008

Project Type

Thesis

Program or Major

Civil Engineering

Degree Name

Master of Science

First Advisor

Erin S Bell

Abstract

The health of the US infrastructure is on the minds of everyone following the August 1, 2007 collapse of the I-35W Bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The safety of bridges nationwide should be a top priority for both our citizens and government since they are the backbone of this nation's economy, with 73% of all traffic and 90% of all truck traffic traveling over state-owned bridges. Performing nondestructive load tests, collecting structural response data, and structural modeling techniques allow bridge owners an objective insight into the health of a bridge. The art of reconciling the structural model to reflect collected field data also allows bridge owners to have an up-to-date analytical model of the bridge for condition assessment, decision-making, and asset management. The results from the Rollins Road Bridge load test accurately show that a model can be updated to match measured structural response from a nondestructive load test.

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