  A collaborative investigation between the University of Virginia (UVA) and
the Virginia Transportation Research Council was performed on the Mecklenburg
Bridge (I-85 over Route 1 in Mecklenburg County). The research team aided the
Virginia Department of Transportation - Richmond District in the
characterization of the bridge behavior of one of the bridge beams that had
been repaired due to a previous web buckling and crippling failure. The
investigation focused on collecting full-field three-dimensional digital image
correlation (3D-DIC) deformation measurements during the dropping sequence
(removal of jacking to support beam on bearing/pier). Additionally,
measurements were taken of the section prior to and after dropping using a
handheld laser scanner to assess the potential of lateral deformation or
out-of-plane buckling. Results from the study demonstrated that buckling of the
tested beam did not occur, but did provided a series of approaches that can be
used to evaluate the effectiveness of repaired steel beam ends. Specifically,
the results provided an approach that could estimate the dead load distribution
through back-calculation.
