Failure Analysis on a Curved Girder Bridge Collapse under Eccentric Heavy Vehicles Using Explicit Finite Element Method: Case Study
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 23, Issue 3
Abstract
In recent years, several similar bridge overturning and collapse accidents have occurred in China. All of them occurred on bridges with continuous monolithic box girders and single-column piers that were eccentrically overloaded by heavy vehicles. In this study, an explicit nonlinear dynamic finite element method is used to analyze an accident occurred on an expressway exit ramp bridge. The entire overturning and collapse process is simulated. The results show a girder revolving around the overturning axis, which is a straight line between two supports for a bridge eccentrically loaded by heavy vehicles. When the rotation of the main girder is larger than the friction limit rotation, the sliding force is greater than the friction force between the girder and the support. This causes the main girder to slide obliquely, which can induce a horizontal reaction force, pushing the piers down and collapsing the whole bridge. This underestimates the anti-overturning ability of a bridge, based on the criterion that no support disengagement occurs under overloading conditions. Second-order effects due to girder rotation (including the increase of the overturning moment arm) must be taken into account when calculating an anti-overturning stability factor based on the overturning axis between two supports.
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Acknowledgments
Research funding provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 51438010) is gratefully acknowledged.
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Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 23 • Issue 3 • March 2018
Copyright
© 2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 27, 2017
Accepted: Sep 14, 2017
Published online: Jan 11, 2018
Published in print: Mar 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Jun 11, 2018
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