Load Rating Highway Bridges: In Accordance with Load and Resistance Factor Rating Method

The safety of bridges is essential to the traveling public. Engineers inspect and assess the live load carrying capacity of bridges to make good decisions on load restrictions, repairs, retrofit or replacement. Load rating is a critical task in this decision-making process. Load Rating Highway Bridges concentrates on bridge load rating by using analytical load rating methods, with a focus on the state-of-the-art Load and Resistance Factor Rating (LRFR) method.

Author Lubin Gao provides a theoretical foundation of loads, load effects, resistances, structural analysis and load rating, and peppers the book with simple examples to help readers grasp the theories behind these engineering methodologies and practices.

Load Rating Highway Bridges is an indispensable text for both students and practicing engineers, providing the basic concepts of load rating highway bridges in terms of the LRFR method. The book is an ideal primer for practicing engineers seeking fundamental knowledge of the LRFR method, or as a supplemental reference to the AASHTO Manual for Bridge Evaluation (MBE). This book can also serve as a textbook or supplemental material for a senior level undergraduate or graduate course in bridge design and load rating.