학술논문

Economic and durable design of composite bridges with integral abutments
Document Type
Source
Subject
Steel Structures
Stålbyggnad
Structural Engineering
Konstruktionsteknik
Language
English
Abstract
In the design and construction of bridges, questions of sustainability, maintenance and durability are becoming more and more important for European road administrations, in addition to safety and serviceability issues. Therefore integral abutment bridges are becoming highly attractive to designers, constructors and road administrations, as they tend to be less expensive to build, easier to maintain and more economical to own over their life time. Bearings and joints are main sources of maintenance costs during a lifetime. These costs vanish because the bridges are joint- and bearing-free. However, this very advantage complicates the design compared to conventional bridges in some crucial respects. Combined with the fact that most European countries have only limited experience with integral bridges to date, this leads to a reluctance of road administrations to use this bridge type. Thus the main objective of the project is to experimentally and theoretically investigate the behaviour of critical points of integral abutment bridges. Regarding the soil-structure interaction, recommendations are elaborated based on monitoring results as well as previous research and monitoring campaigns. Conventional HP piles and sheet piles are investigated as a foundation. Furthermore a hinged HP connection is developed to decrease the stresses in the pile system. An investigation of the design and construction of the slab to pavement approach is also carried out to avoid major damages to the structure. Finally the most important information is condensed into the essential features in form of a 'Design guide for composite bridges with integral abutments'

Online Access