A new model to analyze corrugated steel web bridges

Abstract

The wide application of corrugated steel web bridges has led to a rising demand on accurate tools to analyze this type of structures. Current computational models for these analyses are mainly related to those models using 2D (or 3D) beam elements, solid (shell) elements. Despite the modelling simplicity, beam models can predict the overall structural behavior but failed to provide a refined response on local areas. On the other hand, the elaborated models are better at capturing the local response. However, they are faced with computation and convergence difficulties. To fill this gap, this paper investigates a new model to analyze the structural behavior of corrugated steel web bridges. In this model, the concrete slabs and corrugated steel webs are simulated by the grid composed of 3D beam elements. Specially, the folding effects of the webs are simulated by modifying the mechanical parameters of the longitudinal elements in the grids of beams. The performance of the model is studied by comparing the results from it and those from solid models. These comparisons include the vertical deflections in the longitudinal direction and the vertical deflections in the transverse direction at midspan and one-fourth point of the span. In addition, the normal stresses and the shear stresses due to different loadings are investigated. The results indicate the accuracy and the applicability of this new model to analyze the corrugated steel web bridge.