Engineering Commons^™

Development Of Traffic Live Load Models For Bridge Superstructure Rating With Rbdo And Best Selection Approach, Sasan Siavashi, Christopher D. Eamon

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research Publications

Reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) is frequently used to determine optimal structural geometry and material characteristics that can best meet performance goals while considering uncertainties. In this study, the effectiveness of RBDO to develop a rating load model for a set of bridge structures is explored, as well as the use of an alternate Best Selection procedure that requires substantially less computational effort. The specific problem investigated is the development of a vehicular load model for use in bridge rating, where the objective of the optimization is to minimize the variation in reliability index across different girder types and bridge geometries. …