Validation of Design Recommendations for Integral Abutment Piles, HR-292, 1989

Since integral abutment bridges decrease the initial and maintenance costs of bridges, they provide an attractive alternative for bridge designers. The objective of this project is to develop rational and experimentally verified design recommendations for these bridges. Field testing consisted of instrumenting two bridges in Iowa to monitor air and bridge temperatures, bridge displacements, and pile strains. Core samples were also collected to determine coefficients of thermal expansion for the two bridges. Design values for the coefficient of thermal expansion of concrete are recommended, as well as revised temperature ranges for the deck and girders of steel and concrete bridges. A girder extension model is developed to predict the longitudinal bridge displacements caused by changing bridge temperatures. Abutment rotations and passive soil pressures behind the abutment were neglected. The model is subdivided into segments that have uniform temperatures, coefficients of expansion, and moduli of elasticity. Weak axis pile strains were predicted using a fixed-head model. The pile is idealized as an equivalent cantilever with a length determined by the surrounding soil conditions and pile properties. Both the girder extension model and the fixed-head model are conservative for design purposes. A longitudinal frame model is developed to account for abutment rotations. The frame model better predicts both the longitudinal displacement and weak axis pile strains than do the simpler models. A lateral frame model is presented to predict the lateral motion of skewed bridges and the associated strong axis pile strains. Full passive soil pressure is assumed on the abutment face. Two alternatives for the pile design are presented. Alternative One is the more conservative and includes thermally induced stresses. Alternative Two neglects thermally induced stresses but allows for the partial formation of plastic hinges (inelastic redistribution of forces). Ductility criteria are presented for this alternative. Both alternatives are illustrated in a design example.

Evaluation of Crushed Limestone Rock as a Mulch Material, HR-171, 1975

Earthen fills and back slopes resulting from highway building and other construction projects pose problems with respect to erosion stabilization and establishing vegetation cover. Sediments from such slopes create stream pollution while the erosion itself results in maintenance problems. Furthermore, adverse conditions aggravated by erosion prevent satisfactory establishing of vegetative cover. A dense vegetative cover is very effective in controlling erosion but even with optimum weather and soil conditions there is a delay of about 10 weeks between seeding and the establishment of a vegetative cover. Under actual field conditions, 3 months to a year may elapse between completion of construction and establishment of a vegetative cover. A research project was initiated early in 1974 to determine the effectiveness of a rock mulch of crushed limestone aggregates in controlling soil losses on highway construction back slopes in Iowa and to find the influence of such treatments on stand establishment of grasses and legumes.

Investigation of Plastic Pipes for Highway Applications, HR-373A, Phase II, 1997

It is generally accepted that high density polyethylene pipe (HDPE) performs well under live loads with shallow cover, provided the backfill is well compacted. Although industry standards require carefully compacted backfill, poor inspection and/or faulty construction may result in soils that provide inadequate restraint at the springlines of the pipes thereby causing failure. The objectives of this study were: 1) to experimentally define a lower limit of compaction under which the pipes perform satisfactorily, 2) to quantify the increase in soil support as compaction effort increases, 3) to evaluate pipe response for loads applied near the ends of the buried pipes, 4) to determine minimum depths of cover for a variety of pipes and soil conditions by analytically expanding the experimental results through the use of the finite element program CANDE. The test procedures used here are conservative especially for low-density fills loaded to high contact stresses. The failures observed in these tests were the combined effect of soil bearing capacity at the soil surface and localized wall bending of the pipes. Under a pavement system, the pipes' performance would be expected to be considerably better. With those caveats, the following conclusions are drawn from this study. Glacial till compacted to 50% and 80% provides insufficient support; pipe failureoccurs at surface contact stresses lower than those induced by highway trucks. On the other hand, sand backfill compacted to more than 110 pcf (17.3 kN/m3) is satisfactory. The failure mode for all pipes with all backfills is localized wall bending. At moderate tire pressures, i.e. contact stresses, deflections are reduced significantly when backfill density is increased from about 50 pcf (7.9 kN/m^3) to 90 pcf (14.1 kN/m^3). Above that unit weight, little improvement in the soil-pipe system is observed. Although pipe stiffness may vary as much as 16%, analyses show that backfill density is more important than pipe stiffness in controlling both deflections at low pipe stresses and at the ultimate capacity of the soil-pipe system. The rate of increase in ultimate strength of the system increases nearly linearly with increasing backfill density. When loads equivalent to moderate tire pressures are applied near the ends of the pipes, pipe deflections are slighly higher than when loaded at the center. Except for low density glacial till, the deflections near the ends are not excessive and the pipes perform satisfactorily. For contact stresses near the upper limit of truck tire pressures and when loaded near the end, pipes fail with localized wall bending. For flowable fill backfill, the ultimate capacity of the pipes is nearly doubled and at the upper limit of highway truck tire pressures, deflections are negligible. All pipe specimens tested at ambient laboratory room temperatures satisfied AASHTO minimum pipe stiffness requirements at 5% deflection. However, nearly all specimens tested at elevated pipe surface temperatures, approximately 122°F (50°C), failed to meet these requirements. Some HDPE pipe installations may not meet AASHTO minimum pipe stiffness requirements when installed in the summer months (i.e. if pipe surface temperatures are allowed to attain temperatures similar to those tested here). Heating of any portion of the pipe circumference reduced the load carrying capacity of specimens. The minimum soil cover depths, determined from the CANOE analysis, are controlled by the 5% deflection criterion. The minimum soil cover height is 12 in. (305 mm). Pipes with the poor silt and clay backfills with less than 85% compaction require a minimum soil cover height of 24 in. (610 mm). For the sand at 80% compaction, the A36 HDPE pipe with the lowest moment of inertia requires a minimum of 24 in. (610 mm) soil cover. The C48 HDPE pipe with the largest moment of inertia and all other pipes require a 12 in. (305 mm) minimum soil cover.

Study of Alternate Pavement Designs, 1968

This report is submitted pursuant to a contract dated August 30, 1967, between the Iowa State Highway Commission and Howard, Needles, Tammen & Bergendoff, Consulting Engineers, in connection with studies determining (11,A) alternate pavement designs, and (11,B) criteria for geometric design studies. Included herein is that portion of the report covering Paragraph 11,A, comprising preparation of alternate type pavement designs (Portland Cement and Asphaltic Concrete) for the Cedar Valley Freeway and proposed US-518 from 1-80 to US-30. These alternate pavement designs consider quality and availability of aggregates, soil conditions and traffic information, to determine details and dimensions of pavement design. Comparative cost studies were prepared from alternate design data and recommendations as to pavement type are presented for Commission review.

Pinpointing Suspect Triplicate Unconfined Compressive Strength Values in a Series of Soil-Additive Strength Determinations, HR-1, Progress Report, 1961

In recent years, various types of organic and inorganic materials have been investigated for use as soil stabilizing agents in the construction of highways and airports. Since the properties and environmental conditions of soils vary so greatly from place to place, a stabilizing agent that is suitable for one type of soil may not be satisfactory for another. As a result, it is often desirable to evaluate several stabilizing agents under varying treatment conditions before deciding on a specific one to be used with a given soil. In addition many research programs have been initiated which investigate the effects of these stabilizing agents upon soils.