Abutment-Thermal Interaction of Composite Bridge

An experimental investigation is conducted to substantiate a prior study of environmental stresses induced in composite-girderbridge structures. The objectives of the study were to subject a two-span test structure, with tie-rods to simulate approach-slab forces, to thermal loading, and to correlate the resulatant strains and deflections with those obtained form the theoretical study. The experimental results and theoretical values are in reasonable agreement. It is concluded that the theoretical procedure provides a rational method for predicting the thermal behavior of composite-girder bridge structures and can be applied with reasonable confidence when used with realistic temperature profiles, material properties, and substructure stiffness characteristics.