Prestressed Bridge Design & Manufacturing
Presenter: Joseph Updike, EIT
Organization: Forterra Pipe and Precast
Description: Many of ACPA’s member companies also produce concrete products that go beyond the scope of drainage pipe and culverts. For applications that allow for even greater capacity of traffic loading as well as water capacity underneath, there is one product that is often applied in these cases: precast or prestressed bridges. Forterra, and many similar precast companies, produce the beams in these applications alongside of pipe. This poster session will highlight the manufacturing processes, as well as design considerations using AASHTO LRFD and the PCI manuals, as well as installation and a full range of applications.
Bridges, like pipe and box culverts, do so much to support the roads and transportation systems we use everyday. As a result of this poster session, the viewer will understand what it takes to produce the beams, put them together, and maintain them over their product life. The benefits these bridges bring to our society are closely in line with the benefits of reinforced concrete pipe, and I hope to show how our society may benefit from it in the end.
