Evaluation of Erection Procedures of the Horizontally Curved Steel I-Girder Ford City Veterans Bridge

Details

• Creators:
  Chavel Brandon W. ; Earls Christopher J.
• Corporate Creators:
  Pennsylvania Transportation Institute
• Corporate Contributors:
  Pennsylvania. Dept. of Transportation
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Bridge Members Bridges Construction Curved Bridges Erection (Building) Finite Element Method Girder Bridges Steel Steel Bridges Steel Curved I-girders
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA-PA-2002-003-97-04 (74)
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  Pennsylvania
• Abstract:
  In the case of horizontally steel curved I-girder bridges, it is important to carefully analyze the erection sequence of the superstructure so as to ensure that difficulties do not arise in the field during construction of the bridge. Generally, problems with curved bridges result from unwanted displacements, stresses, and instabilities that occur during erection. For this reason, the bridge engineer whould explore a variety of erection sequences to ensure each phase of construction proceeeds as anticipated to make certain that the steel superstructure satisfies the intended design parameters (i.e., deck elevations, girder web plumbness,etc.) Additional construction difficulties can result from inconsistent detailing of cross-frame members, which are primary load carrying members in steel curved I-girder bridges. Given that horizontally curved I-girders deflect vertically and horizontally upon loading, the web of the girders cannot remain plumb both before and after load is applied. An inconsistency occurs when the design girders are fabricated to fit cross-frames in a web-plumb, no load condition, but the cross-frames are detailed to connect girders in a web-plumb position after load application, an inconsistency develops. In some cases, the inconsistent detailing of cross-frame members can lead to extreme problems during construction of curved I-girder bridges. The steel erection sequence of the Ford City Bridge is recreated through a computer simulation using the commercial finite element program ABAQUS. Displacements, stresses, and support reactions are monitored for each stage of the construction. The finite element modeling techniques used in this study displayed favorable agreement with available experimental data resulting from the erection studies carried out as part of the Curved Steel Bridge Research Project (CSBRP). Using these verified techniques, a nonlinear finite element model of the Ford City Bridge is constructed and the notion of inconsistent detailing of the cross frames. Such lengthy differences imply the need for extremely large forces to be applied in the field during erection.
• Format:
  PDF
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:f01317a63823a1723edb3a04aee532098f1ac54d4d19f52b4720ecfee3c05f97
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/14970/dot_14970_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 30.76 MB ]