The proposed research will develop a methodology to optimize the list of Legal NC Vehicles that that have been defined by the NC General Statutes (GS §20-118). Currently, NCDOT lists of rating vehicles consists of 13 vehicles that can travel legally on interstate highways and 16 vehicles that can travel legally in non-interstate highways. The process of determining the controlling load rating (or vehicle) is cumbersome, especially on multi-span bridges. The Structures Management Unit is in need of a methodology that optimizes the current GS §20-118 vehicles and allows for determining future representative legal vehicles if the NC General Statutes are amended.
To address the aforementioned needs, this research will be conducted to:
- Develop a methodology to optimize representative NC legal vehicles;
- Evaluate and optimize current representative NC legal vehicles based on single and multi-span bridges; and
- Develop an automated computer model for developing NC legal vehicles that can be incorporated into the current analysis and load rating software used by the Structures Management Unit.
