AbstractsEngineering

Simulation of the effect of deck cracking due to creep and shrinkage in single span precast/prestressed concrete bridges

by Sudarshan Chakradhari Kasera




Institution: University of Cincinnati
Department: Engineering and Applied Science: Civil Engineering
Degree: MS
Year: 2014
Keywords: Engineering; Continuous for live load bridge; Deck cracking; Differential shrinkage; Creep and shrinkage; Finite Element; Camber
Record ID: 2025106
Full text PDF: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1416233864


Abstract

The use of precast/prestressed concrete as a structural building system became prominent in the 1950s especially for bridges. The design of the bridge structures was done as simply supported then. In 1969, an analysis and design method for `continuous for live load’ bridges was developed. Extensive research has been conducted since then to study the behavior of `continuous for live load’ precast/prestresed bridges and various modifications have been proposed. The current analysis method fails to predict the behavior of the continuous precast/prestressed bridge accurately because of the complex loads such as creep and shrinkage. The experimental procedure to determine the behavior of structures due to creep and shrinkage needs time and lot of resources.The motivation behind the current research is to provide a concept where finite element method can be employed to study the behavior of such structures. This research focuses on studying the behavior of single-span precast prestressed bridge due to long-term loading such as creep and shrinkage. The general purpose finite element program, ABAQUS 6.11-2 is used for analysis in the current project. The concept developed from the current research can be applied to multi-span bridge continuous structure in the future.The effect of creep and shrinkage on the overall system is studied. The results obtained from the analyses conform to the observed behavior in the field. It can be said that the analyses procedure for `continuous for live load’ bridges needs to account for the cracking of the deck slab to predict an accurate behavior of the structure.