The National Highway Institute (NHI) has expanded its 2016 course catalog by releasing several new courses and updating others in its structures program area, including instructor-led and online training options. The new courses help to meet the training needs of professionals responsible for planning and constructing steel and concrete girder bridges. Existing courses were updated to reflect 2015 revisions to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials’ LRFD [Load and Resistance Factor Design] Bridge Design Specifications.

Extended Offerings for Bridge Engineering

NHI recommends its new 2.5-day Engineering for Structural Stability in Bridge Construction instructor-led training, course number 130102, for structural engineers, project managers, and others in the public and private sectors who review or prepare plans and procedures for bridge construction. The participants learn about the behavior of steel and concrete girder bridges during construction, as well as how to identify vulnerabilities and engineering methods to investigate a structure’s strength and stability at critical stages. The course provides the fundamentals of stability theory, how it affects bridge strength and performance during construction, and common techniques for evaluating the stability of bridge components.

An extended 3.5-day version, course number 130102A, provides an additional 8 hours of hands-on practicum. Participants use computer software to apply advanced stability analysis on real-world examples. By the end of this capstone experience, participants are able to employ stability evaluation techniques to conduct an erection analysis for steel girder and concrete splice girder bridges.

New and Popular for Superstructure Design

NHI’s structures program area offers additional classroom-based and online training in seismic analysis, earthquake engineering, and superstructure design for interested structural engineers.

Introduction to Earthquake Engineering, course number 130093W, is a free 4-hour Web-based training and is the prerequisite to the 130093A instructor-led class, listed below. This new offering has five lessons: (1) Introduction to Earthquake Seismology, (2) Damages to Bridges due to Strong Motion, (3) Single Degree-of-Freedom Systems and Response Spectra, (4) AASHTO Design Ground Motion Characterization, and (5) Introduction to Geotechnical Hazards.

The popular LRFD Seismic Analysis and Design of Bridges, course number 130093, is a comprehensive and practical training course that addresses the requirements and recommendations of the seismic provisions in both the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications and the AASHTO Guide Specifications for LRFD Seismic Bridge Design. The course reviews the fundamental principles of seismic design and describes strategies for protecting bridge superstructures.

Displacement-Based Seismic Design of Bridges, course number 130093A, is recommended for novice to experienced bridge engineers. During 3 days of classroom-based instruction, participants focus specifically on displacement-based design philosophies. Updated in 2014, this course is a shortened version of the 5-day LRFD Seismic Analysis and Design of Bridges, course number 130093.

The new General Superstructure Design Considerations, course number 130081P, is a free 3-hour Web-based training that is a prerequisite for updated courses 130081, detailed below; 130081A, LRFD for Highway Bridge Superstructures (a 2-day classroom course focusing on steel structures); and 130081B, LRFD for Highway Bridge Superstructures (a 2-day classroom course focusing on concrete structures). The course covers general sections of AASHTO’s LRFD specifications. Participants will learn the fundamentals for LRFD highway super-structure design.

LRFD for Highway Bridge Superstructures, course number 130081, is a 4-day classroom training recently updated for the 2015 AASHTO specifications. The course combines instructor-led discussions with workshop exercises to describe LRFD for steel and concrete highway bridge structures. The training uses extensive student exercises and sample problems to demonstrate overall design, detailing, and construction principles. Participants come away with hands-on experience in LRFD and detailing of highway bridge superstructures.

For more information on these and other NHI courses, visit NHI’s Web site at www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov. To register for a session or to sign up to receive email alerts when sessions are scheduled, please visit the course description page.

Judy Francis is a contracted marketing analyst for NHI.