Thanks for all of the comments. It's a continuous trench for practical purposes, so the sides are unsupported. I would have thought double the wheel contact area reasonable, but was looking for something to back it up with.
A collegue of mine asked me about the proper wheel load distribution for H-20 loading on a temporary "road plate" used to cover a trench.
Looking through the AASHTO code, I didn't find anything applicable to spanning with plate steel. Did I miss it somewhere?
Thanks for all of the tips. I...
A collegue of mine called me to ask if I've ever heard of "Government Anchors". It's new to me. Google search brings up a reference to testing a government anchor, but it's not clear. Anyone ever heard of one?
