Steel Bridge Design Handbook: Limit States

Federal Highway Administration2012PDFTech ReportMertz, Dennis R.United States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Bridge TechnologyHDR EngineeringUnited States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Bridge TechnologyUnited StatesSteel bridgesBridge designLimit state designFatigue (Mechanics)FHWA-IF-12-052In the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications, a limit state is defined as \u201ca condition beyond which the bridge or component ceases to satisfy the provisions for which it was designed.\u201d Bridges designed using the limit-states philosophy of the LRFD Specifications must satisfy \u201cspecified limit states to achieve the objectives of constructability, safety and serviceability.\u201d These objectives are met through the strength, service, fatigue-and-fracture and extreme-event limit states. This module provides bridge engineers with the background regarding the development and use of the various limit states contained in the LRFD Specifications.96