AASHTO Journal, 26 September 2014
A rally was held at New Mexico State University Friday, to honor the students, faculty and researchers in the College of Engineering’s bridge inspection program. The program, which is operated in conjunction with the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT), provides annual routine inspections and evaluations of 400 highway and railroad bridges across the state.
The “scholarly excellence rally” was held to recognize the program’s director, Professor David Jauregui, and other faculty, staff and students who participate in the inspections and a new research program created to explore new bridge evaluation methods.
According to an NMSU press release, state-of-the-art procedures in bridge evaluation have shown that several New Mexico bridges can handle load capacities that are 10 to 20 percent higher than originally thought. The release states that greater bridge load capacities could lead to savings for the trucking industry by eliminating costly detours around bridges with lower load capacities.
The NMSU bridge research team uses field testing and computer analysis methods that capture the three-dimensional behavior of bridges. First, sensors attached to various points collect strain measurements as a loaded vehicle travels over the bridge. The data is compared to a finite-element computer model of the bridge (representing the slabs and beams) to determine if the actual behavior of the bridge recorded by the sensors is similar to that of the model.
NMSU says the new evaluation method could be applied to more than 80 percent of the bridges in New Mexico: those constructed of steel girders, pre-stressed concrete girders and reinforced concrete slabs. The research is still being evaluated.
The field inspections of bridges are conducted by undergraduate students who are supervised by professional engineers and load capacity ratings are performed by graduate students specializing in structural engineering. The bridge inspections and ratings follow professional standards put forth by the New Mexico Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). The bridge rating program provides for the load capacity ratings of more than 200 bridges over a four-year period using analytical and experimental methods.
NMSU says both programs are designed to give students and researchers real-world experience in civil engineering that could lead them to careers in transportation.
