Experimental and Analytical Evaluation of an Innovative Strengthening System for Long-Span Deep Corrugated Buried Bridges
Publication: Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
Volume 25, Issue 4
Abstract
Experimental and analytical study of an innovative strengthening system for deep corrugated structural plates ( pitch by depth) is described. A typical thick deep corrugated structural plate can normally span up to 19.8 m for typical bridge design loads. In order to achieve longer spans, it is necessary to increase the flexural stiffness of the plate. The new strengthening system consists of wide flange beams connected to the corrugated structural plate using rigid brackets. Several tests were conducted at the University of Cincinnati Large Scale Testing Facility to evaluate the behavior and stiffness of the beam-plate system. Tests were carried out using a number of different reinforcing beam sizes and bracket spacings. Equations for determining the cross-sectional properties and capacity of the stiffened system were developed. Design case studies were conducted using a special finite element program called CANDE (Culvert ANalysis and DEsign). Different plate gauges in combination with a number of wide flange beams were used in the finite element analyses. The efficiency of the strengthened system was evaluated. In this paper, recommendations are made for design and analysis of strengthened long-span buried bridges, i.e., culverts. This study has found that it is possible to design lighter, longer, and more cost-effective structures through the use of stiffened plates.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
Tim Cormier at Contech Engineered Solutions is acknowledged for participating in the experimental program and for generating some of the figures in this paper. Zach Moore at Contech Engineered Solutions assisted with a number of CANDE analyses, and his assistance is gratefully appreciated. The University of Cincinnati is acknowledged for providing support to conduct the reported research.
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©2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 11, 2019
Accepted: Mar 2, 2020
Published online: Jun 22, 2020
Published in print: Nov 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Nov 22, 2020
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