CE 59700 – Introduction to the Design of Steel Railway Bridges

Credits and contact hours:

  • 3 credits
  • Lecture that meets 1 time per week for 150 minutes per meeting for 15 weeks
  • The course is also offered on-line

Specific course information:

  • Catalog description: History of railway bridge engineering; materials; planning and geometric considerations; live loads for railway bridges; analysis of railway bridges; design of tension, flexural, and compression members; bolted and riveted joints; fatigue and fracture, redundancy considerations.
  • Prerequisites: CE 470 (Undergraduate Steel Design) or equivalent
  • Course status: Technical Elective

Specific Goals for the course:

  • Student learning outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course the student shall be able to:
    • Be familiar with the design philosophy associated with Allowable Stress Design as related to steel railway bridges;
    • Understand the difference between various limit states affecting steel members in railway bridges;
    • Design simple tension members;
    • Design simple welded and bolted connections and gusset plate;
    • Design compression members;
    • Have a basic understanding associated with the design and analysis of railway structures;
    • Understand stitch and sealing requirements in built-up compression and tension members
    • Understand Cooper and alternate live load models used in railway bridge design.
    • Be familiar with basic features of the design and construction of railway bridges and how they differ from highway bridges.
  •  Relationship of course to program outcomes
    • Outcome 1: an ability to identify, formulate, and solve complex engineering problems by applying principles of engineering, science, and mathematics.
    • Outcome 7: an ability to acquire and apply new knowledge as needed, using appropriate learning strategies.
    • Outcome 2: an ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs with consideration of public health, safety, and welfare, as well as global, cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors

Topics:

  • REVIEW OF BASIC STEEL MAKING, RIVETS, FASTENERS, AND WELDING
    • Steel production, alloys, material properties, historical rivet strength, materials used in high- strength bolts, Design Philosophies
  • TENSION MEMBER DESIGN
    • Fracture, yielding, effective net section, block shear, fatigue
  • DESIGN OF BOLTED CONNECTIONS
    • Bearing connections, slip critical connections, force transfer through bolted joints
  • DESIGN OF WELDED CONNECTIONS
    • Welding, weld types, weld defects, weld symbols fillet weld design, CJP and PJP welds
  • COMPRESSION MEMBER DESIGN
    • Global and local buckling, real vs idealized column behavior, short, medium, and long columns, elastic and inelastic buckling, built-up members
  • DESIGN OF FLEXURAL MEMBERS
    • Yield moment, lateral torsional buckling, compact and non-compact section.
  • LIVE LOAD MODELS FOR RAILWAY BRIDGES
    • Cooper Load model, Alternate live load, loading for fatigue