Published: October 2008 | Category: Activity management , Research programme , Research & reports | Audience: General
The objective of this project was to investigate the practicality of adopting the AS 5100 bridge design standard for New Zealand.
The significant differences and gaps between current design requirements as presented by AS 5100 and the Transit NZ Bridge manual and its supporting standards were identified.
The project gave consideration to the New Zealand regulatory environment and identified measures that would need to be taken to enable AS 5100 to be used in New Zealand.
Although many advantages and disadvantages were identified for adopting AS 5100 for bridge design in New Zealand, it was considered that the best option was to retain the Bridge manual and to revise it to incorporate more of the AS 5100 material relevant to bridge design than presently adopted.
The overriding consideration in reaching this conclusion was the difficulty of preparing supplementary material for AS 5100.5 and AS 5100.6 to incorporate seismic design requirements consistent with the New Zealand seismic design philosophy.
There were also significant differences between the Bridge manual and AS 5100 approaches to traffic loads and loading combinations that have had a major impact on both construction costs and the adequacy of existing bridges, and these would be difficult to resolve and unify.
Keywords: AS 5100, Australian bridge design, Transit NZ Bridge manual
