AASHTO bridge design
AASHTO bridge design
(OP)
Can someone help me with AASHTO? I am taking the PE exam in 4 days. I am doing practice questions and it has a lot of bridge design questions. I do not have AASHTO because my company designs houses. Is there a place somewhere (pdf maybe) where I can print out all the maximum design moment factors? Girder distribution factor, length of the bridge, number of lanes, etc. I just need a crash course on bridge design and AASHTO, can anyone help? I dont know anyone here that is in that business.






RE: AASHTO bridge design
Not to read into your post, but I'd make sure and take time to relax Thursday also. Don't cram at the last minute, just make sure you've got all your materials prepared, car gassed up, etc. Then go have a good healthy meal, a beer if you like, then a good nights sleep.
Make sure you've got a spare calculator too, and that both are the exact approved models. I saw a guy have his battery die, and have to beg for his life to borrow another calculator!
Good luck!
RE: AASHTO bridge design
RE: AASHTO bridge design
FYI, you can study that thing all you want in the next day or two, but in my honest opinion, unless you devote a good month or so to it you're not likely to hit enough to make it worthwhile. There's just too many details that they can ask. Just leave those questions for the end and be done with it. Luckily, I hear the october exam was full of bridge questions....hopefully its the opposite this time.
They really need to make a separate bridge exam.
RE: AASHTO bridge design
RE: AASHTO bridge design
Incidentally, when I took it we had the entire afternoon test and could peruse each section before marking the sheet indicating which section we were working from, although I'd bet that most people go straight to their specialty. I don't know if it still works that way. If it does, it would be worth the 5-10 minutes of "wasted" time to browse the exam, especially if what you do doesn't fall neatly into one catergory.
Ironically, at that time, probably half my work was bridge design, I had my own AASHTO, knew it front to back, and I think I had one real bridge design question.
Good luck on Friday. Remember, the least competent young PE you've ever met passed this test, so it can't be that hard.
RE: AASHTO bridge design
Other than having the resources and relaxing the day before, I'd suggest you skip over questions you don't know at first. It took me three passes thru the tests. First pass I answered the questions I immediately knew. Second pass I spent time on the more involved questions, then third pass I chugged away at the problems I really didn't know. Circle your answers in your booklet, then make sure to leave 10 minutes or so to double check that you filled in all the bubbles correctly. That what worked for me anyway.
And coffee is a double edged sword! It will keep you moving along, but bathroom breaks take up crucial test time!
RE: AASHTO bridge design
http://br
you can download the US Bridge Design Manual FM 3-34.343 here:
http://www.army.mil/usapa/doctrine/Active_FM.html
It has design examples based on Standard Specs
If I find anything else I'll post it.
RE: AASHTO bridge design
http://sachs.us/nsfb.pdf
RE: AASHTO bridge design
The one question on prestressed concrete I had on the civil structural PE came out of the AASHTO manual - but, man, it was tough.
Good advice is to be had here! Get a lot of sleep, be prepared and focus! I wish only success for all taking the exam on Friday!
RE: AASHTO bridge design
RE: AASHTO bridge design
I think wearing Depends would be a good thing, actually, saves a lot of time.
RE: AASHTO bridge design
RE: AASHTO bridge design
Great links.
VOD
RE: AASHTO bridge design
you're welcome
RE: AASHTO bridge design
That's a pretty good overview of how to apply AASHTO to PS concrete bridge design.
There are some good examples too for simple-span (and more complex) designs