Engineering Studies of Historic Truss Performance

Post Date

January 5th 2010

Application Due Date

January 14th 2010

Funding Opportunity Number

NPS-NOI-WASO-2270100008

CFDA Number(s)

Funding Instrument Type(s)

Cooperative Agreement

Funding Activity Categories

Transportation

Number of Awards

1

Eligibility Categories

Unrestricted

Funding

• Estimated Total Funding:

  $50000

• Award Range:

  $0 - $50000

Grant Description

OVERVIEW Heritage Documentation Programs, specifically, the Historic American Engineering Record, is engaged in a multi-year study funded by the Federal Highways Administration documenting historic covered bridges. The work proposed to be performed under this agreement will be engineering studies of historic truss performance, a critical but difficult to perform type of documentation. A classic Howe truss with cast-iron nodes will be selected and a series of engineering studies carried out, culminating in a report on the behavior of the Howe truss under load. Because of the difficulties of performing these studies in the field with an in-use structure, they will be undertaken in an engineering laboratory once the truss has been disassembled, moved, and reassembled. The truss will be shored, verticals loosened, instrumentation installed, nuts tightened to change stress levels in members, shoring removed, and live loads applied. The resulting data will be useful in calibrating analytical models for the Howe truss. The final report will complement documentation (measured drawings, historical report and large-format photographs) produced by HAER, and will provide understandable, practical information on the behavior, modeling, and design of Howe truss bridges. The results will have application to many of the 140 Howe trusses in existence, and it could also be used in designing new covered bridges.

Contact Information

• Agency

  Department of the Interior

• Office:

  National Park Service

• Agency Contact:

  Heidi Sage
  Contract Specialist (Contractor)
  Phone 303-969-2755

• Agency Mailing Address:

  heidi_sage@contractor.nps.gov

• Agency Email Address:

  heidi_sage@contractor.nps.gov