Sebastian Montoya-Vargas

Student Bio: Sebastian Montoya-Vargasis from Medellin, Columbia. He is a graduate student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Maine. In 2018, he received his Civil Engineering degree at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia at Medellin, Colombia. In 2019 he moved to Maine to start his Master’s degree, while working as Research Assistant on the Assessment of Micro-pile Supported IABs project, under the advisement of Professors Aaron Gallant and William G. Davids.
Thesis title: Assessment of Micropile-Supported Integral Abutment Bridges
Thesis Summary: Integral abutment bridges (IABs) are the preferred method of construction by Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) and other transportation agencies throughout the United States due to their durability and reduced upfront and life-cycle costs. Shallow bedrock, commonplace at bridge sites throughout the state of Maine, has precluded the use of conventional driven pile foundations and IABs in some instances. Micropiles are an attractive foundation alternative for shallow bedrock sites where conventional foundation systems (e.g. driven piles) cannot develop sufficient length to achieve fixity and/or adequate geotechnical resistance. These foundation elements can be installed through challenging glacial geology, including boulder material and bedrock.
To date, there is no specific guidance on the design of micropile-supported IABs. 3D finite element (numerical) analyses, to assess the performance of an IAB micropile foundation system, considering a wide range of conditions, including: bridge length; bedrock depth, strength, and stiffness; overlying soil strength and stiffness; and abutment skew angle. All analyses will consider the influence of annual temperature fluctuations and creep/shrinkage of the bridge deck associated with imposed deformations, thus combined axial, lateral, and torsional loading, on the IAB foundation system.

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