Publications / 2019 Proceedings of the 36th ISARC, Banff, Canada
Temporary bridges are indeed of need after a critical disaster due to the connectivity and efficient assembly. However, the conventional structural design of these temporary bridges may be limited by the construction requirements. In this study, a new type of structural connectors is developed and beneficial for more effectively assembling ability of temporary bridges. In this development, a construction-oriented design procedure is initiated from a conceptual design and verified by an in-house, small-scale model. This conceptual connector is then modified and analyzed by sophisticated software and finally fabricated for the full-scale use. This design has a bolt-free feature and allows rotational assembly workability. The structural analysis and virtual 3D simulation are conducted to numerically verify the state-of-the-practice connector. The results from the numerical simulation imply the possibility to employ the proposed connector for a temporary bridge.