Influence of concrete strength on the distribution of bending moment in widened curved bridges

Influência da resistência do concreto na distribuição do momento fletor em pontes curvas alargadas

abstract:

The study proposes to analyze the distribution of bending moment due to live load in curved bridges that have undergone a process of widening, considering the influence of concrete’s strength variation. The results show that the bending moment redistribution is more significant the higher the stiffness in the widenings. In addition, the redistribution induced by the variation of stiffness depends on the live load positioning but, generally, it results in the migration of bending moments to the stiffer regions, relieving the original girders. The curvature did not significantly alter the response induced by the stiffening of the widened segments. Also, the divergences found between the MEF and the V-load Method results for models with uniform and variable stiffness were similar. Finally, the Modification Factors (MF) proved to be more sensitive to the influence of curvature than to the concrete strength in the widenings.

Keywords:
bridge widening; widening stiffness; live loads; FEM; V-load method