Full-scale lateral impact testing of prestressed concrete girder

Lateral impact damage from over-height vehicle collisions with bridge superstructures is of increasing concern in the United States. However this issue is not fully addressed in current bridge specifications. Previous researchers have conducted a number of small-scale tests to study the impact process. Also, the finite element method has largely been used to analyze the complicated collision mechanism. This paper provides an opportunity for full-scale lateral impact testing of a prestressed concrete girder, which leads to a realistic level of damage and mechanism analysis. A full-scale lateral impact testing facility was designed and built on a construction site in Knoxville, Tennessee. The over-height vehicle impact was simulated by impacting the bottom of an AASHTO Type I prestressed concrete girder with an impact cart. This paper describes the details of the impact testing facility as well as the response of the prestressed concrete girder during lateral impact. The collected test data were calibrated by using finite element software ABAQUS.