Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/11681/2891
Title: Assessing the reliability of highly redundant welded steel frame structures
Authors: Ellingwood, Bruce R.
McAllister, Therese
Keywords: Fatigue
Hydraulic structures
Fracture mechanics
Inspection
Miter gates
Nondestructive evaluation
Probability
Steel structural engineering
Structural reliability
Weldments
Locks
Dams
Publisher: Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.)
Series/Report no.: Contract Report (Information Technology Laboratory (U.S.)) ; no.ERDC/ITL CR-06-1
Abstract: The lock and dam system along the inland waterways of the United States is vital to the transportation of agriculture and industrial goods. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for providing reliable and uninterrupted operation of the locks within allocated funds. The Corps is working to develop rational policies based on life cycle costs and risk management for in-service inspection, maintenance, and repair. Many of the locks built in the early part of this century are degrading and are frequently inspected and repaired. The time-varying failure probability of a lock is an essential part of evaluating the lifetime costs and risk of the system. This research presents improved methods for performing condition assessment and forecasting the reliability of welded steel miter gate structural systems during future service periods. Miter gates from two operating locks were chosen for study, the John Hollis Bankhead locks in Alabama and the New Cumberland locks in Ohio, for which supporting field data were available to validate the proposed methods. Mathematical models describing time-dependent fatigue damage to the miter gates are presented, and statistical data supporting these models are summarized. The analysis of miter gate fragility is described, with discussion of how fragilities provide insights into the nature of the structural system performance under specified hazards. Miter gate reliability was estimated for the fatigue limit state, including the effects of fabrication quality, flaw detection, and inspection intervals. NOTE: This file is large. Allow your browser several minutes to download the file.
Description: Contract Report
Gov't Doc #: ERDC/ITL CR-06-1
Rights: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/11681/2891
Appears in Collections:Contract Report

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