Bridges

Loading on the bridge deck resulting from an impact into the attached vehicle restraint system (VRS) has become a key aspect of bridge design and for determining the compatibility between an existing bridge and a VRS. Incorrect calculation or estimation of these loads can result in severely over-designed bridge decks, which waste resources and money, or an incompatibility which can cause bridge deck failure.It is to this purpose that methods that more accurately estimate these loads on bridge decks are being developed. This paper intends to demonstrate one such method that is being developed and show how it is superior to some other existing methods.Subsequently, as a case study, this methodology will be applied to a VRS commonly used on Australian bridges.