Distributed Expertise Network
Above, from left to right: I-465 fire damage; Cannelton Bridge flame cut repairs; Valmont pole fatigue evaluation; Sherman Minton Bridge "dog bone" retrofit
A unique team of experts has been assembled through the S-BRITE Center to create a Distributed Expertise Network (DEN). Some of these individuals are housed locally at the Center while others are located at their respective institution. The DEN serves the role that no longer exists in many individual state DOTs today, specifically the existence of a group of highly specialized technical experts that are “on-call” to assist as issues arise. Providing access to such individuals makes the S-BRITE Center the national "go-to" place for solutions to complex issues regarding steel bridges, from high-profile failure investigations to working with policy makers on setting the future paths for asset management of the existing steel bridge inventory. No other such entity or resource exists in the United States. In addition, a database is made available to partnering states archiving the questions posed to the DEN. Thus, states with similar issues are quickly able to find answers to their tough questions.
Do you have a question for the DEN? Please email or telephone Dr. Robert Connor, rconnor@purdue.edu or 765-496-8272, with the details.
S-BRITE Center Partners can click here to access the question & answer database: Q&A Database
The following experts are currently partnering with S-BRITE as DEN Members:
Alphabetical By Last Name | Expertise |
Bonachera M., Francisco J. | Finite Element Analysis, Redundancy, Reliability Analysis |
Bowman, Mark D | Fatigue, Fracture, Repair & Retrofit of Steel Structures, Sign, Signal & Luminaire Structures |
Connor, Robert J | Connections, Fabrication, Fatigue, Field Instrumentation & Monitoring, Fracture, Heat Straightening, Redundancy Evaluation, Repair & Retrofit of Steel Structures, Sign, Signal & Luminaire Structures, Welding |
Fish, Phil | High Strength Structural Bolting, Welding |
Frank, Karl H. | Connections, Fabrication, Welding |
Helwigg, Todd | Curved & Skewed Steel Bridges |
Kogler, Robert | Coatings, Corrosion |
Lloyd, Jason B. | Field Instrumentation & Monitoring, Redundancy Evaluation, Repair & Retrofit of Steel Structures |
Schroeder, Gerald | High Strength Structural Bolting |
Varma, Amit H. | Fire Damage, Impact Damage, Heat Straightening, Repair & Retrofit of Steel Structures |
Washer, Glen A. | Non-destructive Testing |
Alphabetical By Topic | Expert |
Coatings & Corrosion | Robert Kogler |
Curved & Skewed Bridges | Todd Helwigg |
Fatigue | Mark D. Bowman, Robert J. Connor |
Finite Element Analysis | Francisco J. Bonachera M., Amit H. Varma |
Field Instrumentation & Monitoring | Robert J. Connor, Jason B. Lloyd |
Fire Damage | Amit H. Varma |
Fracture | Mark D. Bowman, Robert J. Connor |
Heat Straightening | Robert J. Connor, Amit H. Varma |
High Strength Structural Bolting | Phil Fish, Gerald Schroeder |
Impact Damage | Robert J. Connor, Amit H. Varma |
Non-destructive Testing | Glenn A. Washer |
Redundancy Evaluation | Francisco J. Bonachera M., Robert J. Connor, Jason B. Lloyd |
Repair & Retrofit of Steel Structures | Mark D. Bowman, Robert J. Connor, Amit H. Varma, Jason B. Lloyd |
Sign, Signal, & Luminaire Structures | Mark D. Bowman, Robert J. Connor |
Above: Repair of new Milton Madison Bridge following bearing failure
Above: Fracture of Diefenbaker Bridge fracture-critical girder