Comprehensive Study on the Behavior of Steel Girder Bridges

Details

• Creators:
  Masoudi, Mohammad Javad ; Song, Wei
• Corporate Creators:
  University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
• Corporate Contributors:
  Alabama. Department of Transportation ; United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  Bridge Performance Cross-frame Detailing Methods Curved Beams Deflectometers Finite Element Method Girder Bridges Horizontal Supports Locked-in Forces Skewed Structures Steel
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA/CA/OR
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States
• Edition:
  Final Report: January 1, 2017 to September 30, 2025
• Corporate Publisher:
  Alabama. Department of Transportation
• Abstract:
  This research investigates the impact of cross-frame detailing on the behavior of horizontally curved and skewed steel I-girder bridges. An analysis procedure based on three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) method is developed to accurately capture the complex behavior of steel girder bridges with various cross-frame detailing methods. By following this procedure, a sophisticated FE model of a representative bridge is developed in Abaqus, utilizing its shell elements, and incorporating geometric and material nonlinearities, stress redistribution, and locked-in forces. The analyses assess three cross-frame detailing methods, No-Load Fit (NLF), Steel Dead Load Fit (SDLF), and Total Dead Load Fit (TDLF), with respect to girder deflections, cross-frame forces, layovers, and stress distributions. Findings demonstrate that detailing methods significantly affect cross-frame erection-stage initial forces and final locked-in forces, while having little impact on global deflections, layovers, or overall girder stresses. With the representative bridge, the TDLF method achieves the lowest locked-in forces but requires the largest erection efforts, the NLF method yields the opposite effects, and the SDLF method provides a balanced result between the two. The research provides a promising numerical procedure for analyzing cross-frame detailing to improve constructability and bridge performance and can support the development of generalized criteria for selecting appropriate cross-frame fitting strategies as a function of bridge design.
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  930-939 (GR 25905)
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:fba0c27bc07a528ff5b704404c4b74e007c9802b1738432af0b15e9ea7b199f962e48f9aef06d5a67e759e962ba2ca3ca21a2ef7e940a74207dc18756db84264
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/89364/dot_89364_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 5.96 MB ]