Design, rate, inventory, inspect, and manage

A Letter from the Chair of Bridge Rating and Bridge Design

June 06, 2022

Greetings from the AASHTOWare Bridge Task Force. These
last couple of years have been dynamic. We think we are back to normal and then the pandemic decides it’s not quite over yet.
Most of us are back to normal as far as work and some have adopted new normal of working
from home or a hybrid approach of working from the office and home. Thankfully our contractors were all able to continue to work and deliver high quality software products for the states during this time. The contractors have adapted and evolved to meet the demands with
the conditions put upon them. I believe moving forward these new processes and approaches will continue to help improve the delivery of our software.
AASHTOWare released Bridge Design and Rating 7.2 in February 2022 and 7.1 in September 2021. With the 7.0 Modernized Release in January 2021, we are approaching the time to sunset the legacy version 6.8.4 on June 30, 2022.
Some of the major enhancements included with version 7.2 include the following:

  • Steel Plate Girder Design Tool
  • Prestressed Concrete Design Tool
  • Several of the significant new features and capabilities are:
    • Girder system entry and girder line entry with additional design parameters.
    • Structure framing plan, typical section, and beam profile schematics.
    •  Prestress tee beam design and additional strand configurations.
    • Additional reporting capabilities including stability checks for transport.
  • Load rating Tool enhancements: LRFR analysis of multi-girder systems, slab systems, and multi-cell bo
  • In-memory management of Load Rating Tool’s precomputed data
  • Superstructure data exchange via Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) data
  • Modernized BrDR Database Migration
  • Support Microsoft Azure SQL and PostgreSQL as BrDR database management
  • Application Program Interface documentation

Development has already begun on version 7.3 with a planned release in the Fall of 2022. Here are a few of the major enhancements included:

  • AASHTO Timber Engine for ASR and LRFR
  • AASHTO Metal Pipe Culvert Engine for LFR and LRFR
  • AASHTO Structural Plate Box Culvert Engine for LFR and LRFR
  • Manual for Bridge Evaluation Updates (3rd Edition, 2021 Interim Revisions)
  • System Default Analysis Engine Settings by Member Types
  • Refactoring of the Section Properties and Geometry Computation Modules
  • BrDR Migration Wizard Phase 2—Database Repair Script Generator
  • Improve BrDR Oracle Database Data Types Precision
  • Modernize Bridge Copy Utility – Microsoft .NET 6 Platform
  • BrDR WiX Installer—Next Generation BrDR Installer
  • Internal Release Utility Version 3—Beta Testing Automation
  • New York State DOT Sponsored Service Unit Enhancement
    • User-Defined Flange Lateral Bending Stresses for Analysis
    • User-Defined Flange Lateral Bending Stresses for Analysis

Todd Thompson, P.E. AASHTOWare Bridge Task Force Chair