Heat straightening girders

[BridgeEI]

Does anyone have any good references for heat straightening girders? What about beams that have already been partially replaced before that need to be repaired again?

Does the existing patch need to be replaced or can you replace a smaller area that's within an existing replacement section?

 

[bridgebuster]

Attached is a paper by Richard Avent - he was/or used to be a professor at LSU - he's the guru of heat straightening. Very knowledgeable man; I spoke with him a few times about some projects.


You can also try searching for the FHWA publication Heat Straightening Repairs of Damaged Steel Bridges (FHWA-IF-99-004, October 1998; also by Prof. Avent)

Not sure what you mean by "already been partially replaced before that need to be repaired again?". I had a project where we replaced a fire damage section of a continuous beam (over a pier, we did some heat straightening near the splice locations. The damaged section could have been repaired by straightening but one person on the client end was against it.

 

[BridgeEI]

We have a girder that was impacted before. For that repair they cut out a portion of the girder and replaced it with a tee section from an equivalent girder size. So this existing girder has a new section that was welded in.

This same girder has been impacted again and within the area that was replaced before. Is it possible to replace a smaller portion within the existing replacement area or does the area that was replaced before need to be cut out and welded in again. Ideally the entire patch doesn't need to be replaced but I haven't been able to come across any resources that address this.

 

[bridgebuster]

Look at this website:

http://www.flameoninc.com/faq.html

They say a beam can be straightened up to 4 times.

However, in your case, cutting out and re-welding a piece, there could be residual stress issues. Alternately, you could make the splice with bolts - looks ugly but it works. Where I live PennDoT did it that way on a girder that was mangled.

 

[BridgeEI]

Thanks for your help. Their website is pretty informational.

 

[bridgebuster]

You're welcome