Rodolfo De Los Santos
UTRGV Civil Engineering student Rodolfo De Los Santos completed his UTCRS REU experience at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Mr. De Los Santos was mainly interested in structural design, leading to his decision to study the effects of coal car lengths on short span bridges. In order to do this, Mr. De Los Santos observed a short span bridge located in Lincoln, Nebraska and considered the amount of cars, the speed at which they traveled, the train lengths, and the size of the coal cars to provide an estimate of their weight. Given these parameters he calculated the resulting bending moment and shear force on the bridge caused by the coal cars. As the trend continues towards larger and more numerous freight cars, it is important to monitor structures that were not necessarily designed for such loads. Mr. De Los Santos’ work provides an excellent example of the analysis required to perform this task.