Assessing the Impact of Changes on Design and Material of Howe Bridges by Finite Element Analysis

This paper presents an investigation of changes on design and material of a Howe bridge under vertical loads. Specifically, it aimed to find out how small changes on Howe bridge design and material affected von Mises stresses as well as stresses at Z direction. As a method, it was used a finite element analysis (linear-elastic) by Autodesk F-360. Half of a bridge was designed (one bridge side) and loaded with a central higher load and two equal smaller lateral loads. In essence, von Mises stresses (s) and stress at Z direction (sz) decreased on stresses values until a certain design change, which was proportional to a raise of mass due to beams added on the trusses. With a change of material to a lighter metal, from steel to aluminum, it was possible to overcome the mass drawback brought by steel and utterly possible to end up for a more effective design for a Howe truss bridge by applying minimal design changes.