Influence of Governing Parameters on Long-Term Behaviour of Prestressed Concrete Bridge with Corrugated Steel Webs

Abstract

The influences of critical parameters affecting the long-term behaviour of prestressed concrete bridge with corrugated steel webs (PCBCSW) have been presented in this paper. A calibrated finite element numerical model was used to conduct a detailed parametric study. A total of eleven critical parameters were comprehensively studied using age-adjusted elasticity method (AAEM) to investigate their influence on the serviceability aspect of PCBCSW. Due to large shear deformation and negligible axial stiffness of corrugated steel webs, the Euler–Bernoulli and Timoshenko beam theories are not valid for this type of bridge, thus, the sandwich beam model proposed by Chen [5] was extended by Pandey [11] by duly considering the concrete creep and shrinkage as well as tendon relaxation models of different international codes. It has been found that the long-term deflection of PCBCSW was larger than the identical bridge with flat steel web, and comparable to those with the concrete web. However, the long-term prestress loss of PCBCSW was similar to those of conventional bridges.