What is an H-20 loading?
Olivia Shea
Updated on February 26, 2026
H-20 loading, also known as HS-20 loading, is the design criteria of the American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials, or AASHTO. It “means” a truck axle loading of 32,000 pounds or wheel loading of 16,000 pounds.
What is H 25 loading?
H25/HS25 = 20,000-lb wheel load, 40,000-lb axle. Covers designed to meet the basic requirements for these loads need only be tested with a proof load to meet these minimums. If a specification requires H20/HS20 loading it simply requires a cover meet the design load of 16,000 pounds per wheel without a safety factor.
What is an HS-20 truck?
HS-20 is the truck live loadings of the AASHTO specification, where H stands for highway, S stands for semi-trailer, 20 stands for 20-ton weight of the tractor (first two axles). A “Design Truck “is same as the HS-20 load. The “Design Tandem “consists of two axles, each axle weighing 25 kips spaced 4 ft apart.
What is an HS truck?
The simple difference is an “H” series truck is a two-axle truck, while an “HS” series truck has multiple loaded axles (i.e. a semi-trailer vehicle). Quite simply, the number following the “H” is the gross tonnage of the design vehicle.
What is Lane load?
Lane loading is referred to as the load, which is used to provide the easier method of computing the shear and moments rather than using the concentrated wheel loads. These loads are used in the design of bridge decks, which consists of several lanes on the multiple spans.
What is H10 loading?
Purpose: Used to specify the type of truck for standard truck loading in ASD or LFD projects.
What is h-20/hs-20 loading?
What is H-20/HS-20 Loading? AASHTO’s H-20 and HS-20 are live load ratings applied to the design of bridges or other suspended items (e.g. lids for concrete vaults). Designers use H-20 or HS-20 from AASHTO, or specific axle configurations, to express the extreme load effect created by heavy vehicles such as transports, buses and fire trucks.
Is the bridge designed to load HS-20 or S-16?
Although the plans may say designed to H-20 S-16 and THD Supplement No. 1, the bridge may rate significantly less than HS-20 loading. This difference is due to the more liberal effects of THD Design Supplement No. 1 described below.
What is the difference between HS20 and hl93 wheel load?
The HL93 “design truck” wheel load is the same as the HS20 wheel load. The HL93 “design tandem” wheel load is 12,500 pounds compared with the “Alternate Military Load” of 12,000 pounds.
What is the difference between HS20 and HS25?
This rating has been interpreted as being 25 percent higher than the HS20 truck load. Thus, the HS20 axle load of 32,000 pounds becomes an HS25 axle load of 40,000 pounds.