The Beaver Creek Bridge on U.S. Highway 6 in Utah has a span of 88 ft and was built in 2009. Bridge elements
included prestressed concrete girders and post-tensioned precast concrete deck panels reinforced with glass fiber
reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars. Some of the deck panels and the girders were instrumented for health monitoring.
The response of the bridge to traffic loads was collected remotely and continuously for three years. Collected data
include vertical accelerations of the girders measured through accelerometers from truck loads. Testing of the bridge
included five truck load tests which were carried out at various times. Dynamic truck load data collected include
dynamic deflections, damping and impact factors. The response of the girders is compared to design requirements
as well as finite element analyses from computer-generated models. It is shown that after three years in service, the
performance of the bridge, including the precast deck panels with GFRP reinforcement, is well within the design
requirements.
1. American Concrete Institute Committee 440, Guide for the Design and Construction of Structural Concrete
Reinforced with FRP Bars (ACI 440.1R-06), American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, MI. 2006.
2. American Association of State and Highway Transportation Officials, AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Guide
Specifications for GFRP Reinforced Concrete Bridge Decks and Traffic Railings, 1st Edition, American
Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, Washington, DC. 2009.
3. Broekhuizen, D. “Effects of Vertical Accelerations on Prestressed Concrete Bridges,” Thesis. University of
Texas at Austin. 1996.
4. Lynch, J., Y. Wang, K. Loh, J. Yi and C. Yun. “Performance monitoring of the Geumdang Bridge Using a Dense
Network of High-Resolution Wireless Sensors,” Smart Mater. Struct. 15 (2006) 1561–1575.
5. Lau, D., M. Cheung and W. Li. “Dynamic Monitoring of the Confederation Bridge,” Proceedings 12WCCE
2000 1257.
6. DeWolf, J., Lauzon, R. and Culmo, M. “Monitoring Bridge Performance,” Structural Health Monitoring 2002
1: 129.
7. Gangone, M.V., M.J. Whelan, K.D. Janoyan, L. Minnetyan and T. Qiu. “Wireless Sensor Performance
Monitoring of an Innovative Bridge Design in New York State,” Bridge Maintenance, Safety, Management and
Life-cycle Optimization 2010 pp. 420-426.
8. Wong, K. and G. Hart. Structural Dynamics for Structural Engineers, New York, New York. 2000.
9. Hag-Elsafi, O., W.F. Albers and S. Alampalli. “Dynamic Analysis of the Bentley Creek Bridge with FRP Deck,”
Journal of Bridge Engineering Vol. 17 No. 2, 2012 pp.318-333.
10. CSiBridge SAP 2000. Computer software. Vers. 14.2. Computers and Structures Inc. Web. 2011.