bridge engineering software

huangyhg

bridge engineering software
hi all
i have a simple question. when an engineer in the us does the structural calculations for a bridge, what software does he use?
i need something that can handle moving loads in loadtrains.
for example up to 15 pointloads divided in 3-4 groups that can move independant of each other.
i also need to ability combine loads in a relatively complex way. both finding and adding the worst load as well as adding if worse. these two methods also need to be combined.
my problem is that i have to work with the swedish bridgecode and for some reason (?) it seems more complicades than most.
anyway, what do you use in the us?
regards  thomas
jimbo (staff)23 sep 03 15:53
suggest you post in the bridge engineering forum.
probably a very good idea, i didn´t see the bridge forum first.
thanks /thomas
they use merlin-dash, staad, sap and larsa. staad generates influence surfaces with their new bridge loader module. i doubt they do swedish codes.
yes, we use all the program listed by fleisher and then some.  some others that come to mind are gt-strudl, mdx, conspan, consys, and many others.
gt-strudl allows for a host of live load definitions and like many of the other programs can generate user defined live loads.  the strudl database management will also allow for a wide range of load processing etc.  some of the other high end program likely offer that too.