Field Study of the Wolf Creek Multi-span Curved Girder Bridge

About the project:

Curved girder bridges are of considerable importance in modern bridge engineering. Steel curved girder bridges, in particular, offer the benefits of a slender, attractive profile, longer span lengths, and the use of fewer intermediate piers than a similar chorded bridge on a curved alignment profile. The use of I-girders in curved bridge construction, while common, introduces numerous complications into bridge analysis and design.  The Wolf Creek bridge is located on Route 644 in Bland County, Virginia.  It serves a very low volume road and is fairly easily accessible.  This structure will be heavily instrumented and studied in great detail.  It will serve as a laboratory structure to fully characterize curve.  Several curved girder structures will then be instrumented and dynamic behavior determined.  Ultimately the goal of this study is to change or verify the current design specifications.

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