I took that picture on Interstate 20 just east of Birmingham, Alabama, just a mile from where I live.
Most likely A bridge girder wouldn't need bolts like that on the end. It would just have a stiffener and be bottom flange bearing.
Even if it is a framing member in an industrial setting or a transfer girder in a building, I can't imagine framing that into the side of a column. Imagine the moment induced into the column.
Maybe it is a bridge girder and all those bolts are for a splice plate.
I would have said that it was a bridge girder, over an intermediate support with sliding bearing (hence the 3 heavy vertical stiffeners, to distribute the load as the bearing slides).
The clipped flanges are not unusual, I have seen that detail several times. Bolted connections are good places to change the flange sections, and flange transitions usually have tapered corners.
The unsual part (for me) is that I do not see any shear studs (connectors) on the top flange, and that the girder looks fully painted and the bolted splice area does not seem to be masked. Usually those are friction connections and they require a special primer to achieve the required friction coeficient.
If it's a bridge girder, it could be a section of a continuous girder - between contraflecture points. However, a clipped flange is unusual in bridge work, at least in the mid-Atlantic and northeast.
If it is a bridge girder, shop attached studs wouldn't be used, for safety reasons. It can get a bit precarious assembling a large girder.
I bet it's a girder for a railroad bridge. The stiffeners are at a support. The bolt hoels at the end are for a splice. It's part of a continuous system. The intermediate stiffeners, with holes in the bottom portion, are to receive beams. The railroad runs across the tops of these beams, hence no shear studs on the girder.
The flanges could be welded at the splice. (I can't tell if there are bolt holes in the flange or not.) If the next girder has a narrower flange, that would explain the clip on the flange that we're looking at, to make the transition from one width to another.
Bolt holes look too small? How big is a 1.25" diameter hole supposed to look on an 8' tall girder?
I assumed there were bolt holes on the flanges. On second inspection it is not so clear on the picture. If there are not, I am at a loss.
Bridgebuster, in my area of the woods, clipped flanges at flange area transitions are not unsual, also on ocasions placed at splice locations, and studs are always attached on the shop. I have handled fairly large girders (up to 8 feet) with studs. Interesting to hear a different approach.
The bolt holes are probably not that small, the scale of the girder makes them look small.
am still wondering though why that many bolts on the web..
i have done many (small) beam splice before, i didnt have to have that much bolts on the web..
