Time-Dependent Reliability Assessment of Long-Span PSC Box-Girder Bridge Considering Vehicle-Induced Cyclic Creep
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 28, Issue 4
Abstract
The neglect of the cyclic creep of concrete induced by vehicles may overestimate the deflection reliability of long-span prestressed concrete (PSC) box-girder bridges and increase structural safety risks. In this paper, a novel method considering the combined effects of the shrinkage, static creep, and cyclic creep of concrete and the stress relaxation of prestressed tendons is proposed to assess the time-dependent deflection reliability of PSC box-girder bridges. By employing the Kelvin chain model, the conventional integral-type method for calculating the static creep of concrete is converted to rate-type creep analysis, which has a higher computational efficiency and can consider various nonlinear effects. The cyclic creep of concrete is estimated by the fatigue mechanics-based model and integrated into the quasi-elastic incremental constitutive model. The proposed constitutive model is implemented in a general finite-element program DIANA, in which the mechanical behavior of the thin-walled box girder is described by the composite degenerated shell elements. An importance sampling method is applied when estimating the deflection reliability to balance the computational accuracy and efficiency. The proposed method is applied to a long-span PSC box-girder bridge with a main span of 150 m. The results indicate that the cyclic creep of concrete may accelerate the reduction of the deflection reliability indexes, which may fall below the target level before the expected service life of the bridge. In addition, heavy trucks passing in pairs have a significant impact on the deflection reliability. The research findings can be used for the reliable design and optimal maintenance of long-span PSC box-girder bridges.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to express their appreciation for the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 51908191 and 52125802 and the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Science and Technology under Grant No. BZ2021011.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 28 • Issue 4 • April 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 21, 2022
Accepted: Dec 11, 2022
Published online: Feb 10, 2023
Published in print: Apr 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Jul 10, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Box girders
- Bridge engineering
- Bridge tests
- Bridges
- Bridges (by material)
- Bridges (by type)
- Concrete bridges
- Continuum mechanics
- Creep
- Design (by type)
- Displacement (mechanics)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering mechanics
- Field tests
- Girder bridges
- Girders
- Materials characterization
- Materials engineering
- Rheology
- Solid mechanics
- Span bridges
- Structural design
- Structural engineering
- Structural mechanics
- Structural members
- Structural reliability
- Structural systems
- Tests (by type)
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