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HAandHBTypeLoading

History
ThefirststandardvehicleloadforhighwaybridgesintheUKwasintroducedin1922.British
StandardsintroducedatrafficliveloadrequirementinBS153Part3in1923,whichwaslaterrevised
in1925and1937.TheTypeHAuniformlydistibutedloadingwasintroducedin1945andtheconcept
ofaTypeHAandHBloadwasincludedinthe1954editionofBS153:Part3A.In1961theHBload
wasspecifiedintermsofunitsandvarieddependingontheclassofroad,with45unitsrequiredfor
MotorwaysandTrunkRoadsand37.5unitsforclassiandclassiiroads.Arequirementforallpublic
roadstobedesignedforatleast30unitsofHBwasintroducedin1973.

HALoading
BD37/01AppendixAoftheDesignManualforRoadsandBridgessaysthatTypeHAloadingisthe
normaldesignloadingforGreatBritainandadequatelycoverstheeffectsofallpermittednormal
vehiclesotherthanthoseusedforabnormalindivisibleloads.Normalvehiclesaregovernedbythe
RoadVehicles(AuthorisedWeight)Regulations1998,referredtoastheAWVehiclesandcover
vehiclesupto44tonnegrossvehicleweight.LoadsfromtheseAWvehiclesarerepresentedbya
uniformlydistributedloadandaknifeedgeload.Theloadinghasbeenenhancedtocover:
i)impactload(causedwhenwheels'bounce'i.e.whenstrikingpotholesorunevenexpansionjoints).
ii)overloading
iii)Lateralbunching(morethanonevehicleoccupyingthewidthofalane).
Themagnitudeoftheuniformlydistributedloadisdependentontheloadedlengthasdeterminedfrom
theinfluencelineforthememberunderconsideration.Forsimplysupporteddecksthisusuallyrelates
tothespanofthedeck.

HBLoading
BD37/01AppendixAoftheDesignManualforRoadsandBridgessaysthatTypeHBloading
requirementsderivefromthenatureofexceptionalindustrialloads(e.g.electricaltransformers,
generators,pressurevessels,machinepresses,etc.)likelytousetheroadsinthearea.
Thevehicleloadisrepresentedbyafouraxledvehiclewithfourwheelsequallyspacedoneachaxle.
Theloadoneachaxleisdefinedbyanumberofunitswhichisdependantontheclassofroadandis
specifiedinBD37/01Chapter4asfollows:
Motorwaysandtrunkroadsrequire45units,Principalroadsrequire37.5unitsandotherpublicroads
require30units.OneunitofHBisequalto10kNperaxle.TherearefiveHBvehiclestocheck
althoughmostvehiclescanbediscountedbyinspection.

Design
ThedesignprocedureistoanalysethebridgeforHAandHBloadeffectsapplyingtheappropriate
loadfactors.ThememberisthendeisgnedfortheworsteffectsofHAorHBloading.

HAandHBLoadExample|BacktoTutorialIndex

LastUpdated:19/10/13
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DavidChildsB.Sc,C.Eng,MICE
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