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Any structural engineers around?

Slash0311 said:
To the OP. it seems as if almost every serious reply says your design won't work. In my area a farmer cleared his ditches for his own property and the Enviro idiots fined the crap out of him for distrubing "wetlands".

If you don't want to listen to the guys posting, then why ask at all? If that's the case and all you wanted was a rubber stamp of your project, then go ahead.
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It is all speculation. I am speculating and so is everyone else.

For the wording of "keeping me from dying", tell yall what. I will load down that 32' gooseneck with steel and get it up to 12,000 pounds. I can push it over the bridge with my skid steer, and my skid steer stay on land. If the bridge fails and my trailer falls, I will be the first to admit the naysayers were right.
 
How this thread ends up

hold-my-beer-and-watch-this-ok-ineed-my-beer-8228484.png
 
Garvey said:
It is all speculation. I am speculating and so is everyone else.

For the wording of "keeping me from dying", tell yall what. I will load down that 32' gooseneck with steel and get it up to 12,000 pounds. I can push it over the bridge with my skid steer, and my skid steer stay on land. If the bridge fails and my trailer falls, I will be the first to admit the naysayers were right.
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If you are gonna do it, load your gooseneck up to 20,000lbs. Just for some safety factor. Good luck!
 
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Garvey said:
It is all speculation. I am speculating and so is everyone else.

For the wording of "keeping me from dying", tell yall what. I will load down that 32' gooseneck with steel and get it up to 12,000 pounds. I can push it over the bridge with my skid steer, and my skid steer stay on land. If the bridge fails and my trailer falls, I will be the first to admit the naysayers were right.
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No, there are actually formulas to determine what beams to use. You asked a question without looking for actual input.
 
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Random internet computer guy... You could always use 4-5 beams instead of 2 big ones. Although, my high school science memory says that increasing in beam size is exponential while adding beams is linear. But, sometimes linear is good enough.

My untrained eye however is very suspicious of that butt joint.
 
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NoDopes said:
Random internet computer guy... You could always use 4-5 beams instead of 2 big ones. Although, my high school science memory says that increasing in beam size is exponential while adding beams is linear. But, sometimes linear is good enough.

My untrained eye however is very suspicious of that butt joint.
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I will go from 48" centers of the posts, to the original plan of 24" centers. And add angles between them.

The butt joint held for no telling how many decades as a county road bridge. But, I will grind it all down, bevel out the joint, and run a new pass or two.
 
Stevo86 said:
Same here, been a dealer for 25 years. There equipment is shit and we are changing brands. The newer dual wall climate changer air handlers aren’t bad. We’ve always used a lot of Carrier on our Commerical side and looking at switching to them for residential.
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Big VRF guy here, lot's of Mitsubishi and LG. Have installed a bunch of Carrier chillers to. I'm actually looking for and HVAC estimating/design/PM job here in central TX (Bell county) if anyone here has a lead for me.
 
For the wording of "keeping me from dying", tell yall what. I will load down that 32' gooseneck with steel and get it up to 12,000 pounds. I can push it over the bridge with my skid steer, and my skid steer stay on land. If the bridge fails and my trailer falls, I will be the first to admit the naysayers were right.

Come on man! The Wright Brothers didn't use a dummy load, they used a real dummy to fly and look at the world now. Go big or go home. Just put up one of those "go slow on bridge signs"
 
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34vld said:
For the wording of "keeping me from dying", tell yall what. I will load down that 32' gooseneck with steel and get it up to 12,000 pounds. I can push it over the bridge with my skid steer, and my skid steer stay on land. If the bridge fails and my trailer falls, I will be the first to admit the naysayers were right.

Come on man! The Wright Brothers didn't use a dummy load, they used a real dummy to fly and look at the world now. Go big or go home. Just put up one of those "go slow on bridge signs"
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The Wright Brothers didn’t base their design off of a gooseneck trailer either....
 
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Garvey said:
It is all speculation. I am speculating and so is everyone else.

For the wording of "keeping me from dying", tell yall what. I will load down that 32' gooseneck with steel and get it up to 12,000 pounds. I can push it over the bridge with my skid steer, and my skid steer stay on land. If the bridge fails and my trailer falls, I will be the first to admit the naysayers were right.
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Just FYI, my comment about the w8x24 beam deflecting 3” with a 28’ span and 10000# point load was not speculative, I used a beam calculator.

And just because that beam was part of a bridge before does not mean shit for your application, what was the previous free span? How many beams were there? The entire design was different and spreads weight differently. How are you going to account for deflection in your footers where the beam is connected to the ground? What kind of footer are you going to pour?
 
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Stevo86 said:
Same here, been a dealer for 25 years. There equipment is shit and we are changing brands. The newer dual wall climate changer air handlers aren’t bad. We’ve always used a lot of Carrier on our Commerical side and looking at switching to them for residential.
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I remember hearing Carrier was owned by a chinese corporation...
 
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Some more info, while a w8x24 will deflect 3” with a 10k # point load with a 28’ span, which is completely unacceptable, a w16x36 will deflect roughly 5/8” in the same configuration.

A 30’ w16x36 should cost roughly around $900 each. Seems like a cheap investment for a bridge
 
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TxWelder35 said:
Just FYI, my comment about the w8x24 beam deflecting 3” with a 28’ span and 10000# point load was not speculative, I used a beam calculator.

And just because that beam was part of a bridge before does not mean shit for your application, what was the previous free span? How many beams were there? The entire design was different and spreads weight differently. How are you going to account for deflection in your footers where the beam is connected to the ground? What kind of footer are you going to pour?
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But, But, he used 2/0 cable.........It'll be fine. :rolleyes:

(That was my favorite ;))
 
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OK... chiming in. Get a structural engineer, period, full stop. It's about liability transfer. If someone gets hurt or worse, you're fucked. If an SE designs it, they're fucked, or whoever fabricates it is. They can fight it out in court while your ass is protected.

Or don't, and have fun trying to sleep at night.
 
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Garvey said:
It is all speculation. I am speculating and so is everyone else.

For the wording of "keeping me from dying", tell yall what. I will load down that 32' gooseneck with steel and get it up to 12,000 pounds. I can push it over the bridge with my skid steer, and my skid steer stay on land. If the bridge fails and my trailer falls, I will be the first to admit the naysayers were right.
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Why would you ask for advice and then be a dickhead when people who obviously forgot more about the subject than you, try to give you advice?

I for one hope you ignore everyone here and YOLO it hillbilly style. Make sure you video tape it, 10,000 ways to die like a moron needs some content for the sequel.
 
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camocorvette said:
Better off to get a cement culvert. View attachment 7826650

I'm a pipelayer by trade. But I've been involved in major infrastructure development in WA. Lots of bridges and over passes. All the shit on I5 outside McCord and Ft. Lewis I had a hand in. Same with by tacoma dome and a bunch of stuff in Seattle.

28 foot span is a lot to not have columns. If your not sinking columns, making footings or abutments your bridge will need to be redesigned.

While it may work. As posted above Army engineers would shut it down if found out. Also with no abutments and just some 8 foot poles sunk in the ground you don't have much to prevent washouts.

Probably better off to just get a 53 foot flatbed trailer and set that sucker over there.
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How does one get a culvert? How much do they cost?
 
You know, the only logical step forward is to shit-can the whole 'bridge' idea, and simply build a ramp on each side.

With enough lead-up and velocity, you can clear it Duke's Of Hazzard style.


Video or it never happened. Extra points if you launch dynamite-strapped arrows out the window while mid-air. Preferably NOT at the camera-man!
 
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thestoicmarcusaurelius said:
Not saying not to get a letter stating it's rated for the expected loads for liability purposes but engineers will still blame the installer every day and twice again on Sunday for improper installation.
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That's when you ask for the soils tests and geotech recommendations.

Well, before anything fucks up is when you do all that lol
 
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TxWelder35 said:
Don’t worry this weld says it’ll hold. No rust taken off, welded right over the top 40-50 amps too cold, with the wrong rod. View attachment 7827614
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Wish I had zoomed in like that before.
I honestly don't see any penetration at all and it looks like a high school shop class effort.
Everything on the surface and zero penetration.
Could probably completely ruin it when you chip off the slag and the entire weld falls onto the floor :)
 
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n2ishun said:
Wish I had zoomed in like that before.
I honestly don't see any penetration at all and it looks like a high school shop class effort.
Everything on the surface and zero penetration.
Could probably completely ruin it when you chip off the slag and the entire weld falls onto the floor :)
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That one was shit. Was wondering if my 7081's got damp. Inside a rod tube, inside a box. Still not near as good as a rod oven. It was cleaned off and redone.
 
#1 out of the shop. Both were blocked 3" off the floor. This one had no deflection before adding the truss. It is cambered uphill now.

20220314_163858.jpg
 
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So lets see. Has there been even one person who seriously agreed with your plan? (nope)

You ask questions, ignore every response since its telling you that you're wrong.

Then post triumph pics of one done.

Brilliant!
 
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Since it seems that you are moving forward with what you have, at least do a little redneck safety check. Once the bridge is in place and done, find a way to measure the deflection at the center of the bridge. This needs to be accurate to the 1/8" area. Put a reasonable load on the bridge (something like 1/2 of max or less) measure the deflection. If you are seeing more than 3/8-1/2" with half the load, STOP!
 
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Garvey said:
That one was shit. Was wondering if my 7081's got damp. Inside a rod tube, inside a box. Still not near as good as a rod oven. It was cleaned off and redone.
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Garvey said:
5/32" E-6011 off a Miller Syncrowave. Had it set at 90 amps. All steel has been cleaned prior to welding. On the I-beam, grinding wheel, then a cup brush. Pipe, just brushed at the bench grinder before install.

The south bank slopes not too aggressively. The north bank is a shear wall. On the south bank I can add more columns and reduce the Free span to 19 feet.

Think I will add some triangles to the truss. Was the original plan anyway.
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I’ll have to get me some of those 7081s must be some bad ass bridge building rod. But I could have swore you said it was 5/32 6011 set 50% too low.

The point still stands. Zero prep on the surface, cold welds, shit welds, undersized beam. If you want to use what you have here is what I would do.

Go buy a beam double the size of what you currently have in size and weight, cut up that 8” beam for the cross bracing, use your pipe as a guard rail.

I’m seriously not trying to be a dick, just trying to give you semi professional advice that YOU ASKED FOR. You asked if your shit was undersized, and it is. You don’t appear to like the answers you have gotten.

Now instead of heeding sound advice you are plowing ahead regardless. The beams you have are without a doubt undersized. You are now entirely relying on your truss design that has zero engineering, questionable materials, and welds that would never pass code and that will most likely fail under stress.

Please for the love of god, go spend 2k on the correct size beams. 2k is an extremely small cost compared to the enormously downside if this “bridge” fails.
 
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Garvey said:
Doesn't need to hold a fire engine or truck. My driveway comes from the county road, crossing no body of water. This is to go from north pasture to south pasture, for my own usage, and no one else.

So, bottom line, no one has pointed me to that engineer I brought up and so have you. Of course I'll pay the man for his time and expertise.

As I said before, these very beams used to be a bridge on a public county road. Thought I do not know the span they were previously making.

Many of yall would stroke out seeing some county road bridges around my place. They span creeks just like mine. Are built only out of cross ties, and tractor trailers cross them loaded with corn and wheat.
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Rung what you brung.

Build it how ever you want, drag it down there. Cross it incrementally heavier. Maybe you’ll have to drag it back to the shop.

Some people feel like they need permits to build.



Don’t watch the moth man prophecy.
 
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I'm just a bridge builder that has done 60+ all steel bridges. This is not gonna turn out well. You at a minimum need to put these on a footing, size depends on the soil type. Then at a minimum, 2 of similar size beams under each tire tack. Id recommend W12x42. Tie all these beams together with some sort of diapghram top and bottom and you hold a chance.

Please show us your tractor in the bottom of the ditch. How deep is the drainage? Does it hold water most of the year if so be ready for a visit from the state. How many acres does it drain? If over about 1/4 section your looking a visit from the feds.
 
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You can test the beams almost as sho
Garvey said:
#1 out of the shop. Both were blocked 3" off the floor. This one had no deflection before adding the truss. It is cambered uphill now.

View attachment 7827739
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You could just test it up on blocks almost as shown. Flip it right side up, block it where the banks would be and load it with half the weight, although, a beam with fixed ends carries more weight than a beam with floating ends. Also, diaphragms were mentioned above. One real concern is keeping those trusses vertical under the dynamic loading.
 
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Just guessing here, but thinking even if testing works out the flex will work on the welds and it comes loose down the rd.

Dig a crossing and fix it every time it floods. Sucks, but safe.
 
The last place I expected a group full of pussies, saying "govern me harder daddy" was Sniper's Hide.

I have been burning rods, and MIG wire, for 26 years, every week. Did any of you ever think I asked questions, and allowed shitty looking welds to be in pics, wasn't just to fuck with you?

For those that are slow. Once again. These beams, as is, were county road bridge beams, on public roads. Now that they are trussed, they are stronger than they were. For those that do not understand trusses, go research some geometry information, followed by some truss building information.

2 1/2" X .188" wall pipe in tension, on top of 10" I-beam. Really, what would break it? A locomotive? I don't have one of those, and there are no tracks going to where this bridge will be.
 
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