Identifying Number MPC-352 Project Title: Evaluation of Ice Loads on Bridge Piers in South Dakota University: South Dakota State University Principal Investigator: Shiling Pei Civil and Environmental Engineering Phone: (605) 688-6526 Shiling.Pei@sdstate.edu Nadim Wehbe Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Phone: (605) 688-4291 Description of Research Problem: Ice load on bridge structure is one of the major components for Extreme Event load combinations specified in the AASHTO Code. In seismic inactive regions such as South Dakota, ice load can be the predominant lateral load that governs the design of bridge substructures. Accurate estimation on the magnitude of ice forces that act on bridge piers and abutments in northern climates is a major concern in the design of new bridges and in the evaluation of existing bridges. While empirical equations were provided by AASHTO to calculate the design ice load based mainly on effective ice strength and thickness, these formulas were developed assuming thick ice formation which is quite different from the “ice cakes” that form on South Dakota rivers. Thus even with very accurate ice strength and thickness values, ice load calculated based on AASHTO formulas may still be inaccurate. This inaccuracy will lead to inappropriate pier designs that may cost the public in the long run. Field measurement of ice load is the most direct and accurate approach to obtain local pier-ice interaction data and has seen its applications in several cold region bridges (e.g. Brown et al. 2010). The proposed work focuses on directly measuring ice load at critical sites in South Dakota and comparing the actual load statistics with codified load values. Combined with existing studies on ice conditions formerly conducted within the state (USGS report