Design, construction and performance of wood bridges with multicellular prestressed decks

• Grant number: 05/00377-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: July 01, 2005
• End date: June 30, 2006
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Civil Engineering - Structural Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Carlito Calil Junior
• Grantee: Jorge Luis Nunes de Goes
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia de São Carlos (EESC). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The multicellular prestressed deck timber superstructure is one of the more recent technologies of modern timber bridges and can become an excellent alternative for medium span(12 to 25 meters) for municipal, state and federal highways. The author, in his Phd, nominated "Study of Timber Bridges with Multicellular prestressed decks", carried through a theoretical and experimental study of the structural behavior of these bridges. As continuation of the works, it is foreseen in the Thematic Project the construction of two prestressed bridges in Campus II of the São Carlos Engineering School, being an only chance for the complete study of the first real scale prototypes of this structural system to be constructed in South America. Inside of this context, the objective of this work is the study of the constructive processes and the structural behavior to the long one of the time, with the purpose of indicating directions for an efficient construction and use of these modern timber bridges, collaborating with the spreading of new technologies and stimulating the use of the reflorested wood in structural applications of high importance.