Date: Wednesday, 29 April 2020
Location: Online, 1:00 – 2:00pm AEST
Organiser: Austroads
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This webinar will discuss the merits of three options to advance the future of PBS access in Australia as it relates to bridges.
These options are analysed in the context of the following key objectives as endorsed by ministers to improve PBS access outcomes:
- to reduce uncertainty as to whether a vehicle will be approved for access to a route through road managers agreeing to as-of-right access for PBS vehicles
- faster access decisions
- development of a nationally harmonised infrastructure capability assessment framework for use in all access decision-making
- consideration of an online database that makes infrastructure mass limits or loading limits publicly available.
Three options for future bridge assessment in Australia will be presented and discussed. Gazettal of routes to the current bridge formulae was found not to be an effective way to improve PBS access. Nor was it found to be viable to develop updated formulae to address the large and diverse heavy vehicle to bridge loading impacts. What is recommended is that a line model comparison methodology be implemented to drive a nationally consistent and rapid heavy vehicle-bridge assessment framework.
The webinar will explain the current role the PBS bridge formulae play in vehicle design and approval. It will look at the historical development of the formulae and under which circumstances it most accurately predicts real world loading of PBS vehicles on different structure types and span lengths.
Finally, the project team will explain the next steps being undertaken to support fast and transparent heavy vehicle bridge assessment through a national line model assessment framework.
Join in a live Q&A with our presenters to have your questions answered.
Presented by Neal Lake, Mathew Bereni and Angus Draheim.
Neal Lake is employed as a Principal Technology Leader with ARRB and has significant involvement in bridge asset management and assessment, L2 bridge inspections and has been heavily engaged in the Austroads Bridge research program over the last decade. With over 20 years’ experience in multi discipline engineering environments including government, consultancy and contractor organisations, Neal has a wide variety of experience in the areas of civil infrastructure evaluation, design and management, heavy industrial infrastructure evaluation, structural testing and measurement. In 2002 Neal gained his PhD in the field of bridge assessment, and has extensive experience in instrumentation, data acquisition and finite element analysis.
Matthew Bereni leads the Future Transport Infrastructure Group & Materials Laboratory team at ARRB. In this role, Matthew and his team collaborate with all levels of government, academia, and the private sector to create knowledge for tomorrow's transport infrastructure challenges. He is a Fellow of Engineers Australia and holds Civil and Transport Engineering degrees. Prior to joining ARRB, Matthew worked on major projects for the European Commission, the OECD, the National Transport Commission and the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator
Angus Draheim has worked for extensively in the vehicle, freight and road sectors with 20 years’ experience in Commonwealth and State Agencies working on sector reform initiatives. He has a Masters in Engineering and has worked for the Commonwealth government as a heavy vehicle safety and policy expert, and in State Government, primarily in the road freight sector where he was heavily involved in the creation and operation of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator. Angus has led and been involved in many transport reforms and technology implementations.
No charge but registration is essential.
Can’t make the live session? Register and we’ll send you a link to the recording.