Bridges are of vital importance for the European infrastructure network. Due to their significance in the political economy, the requirement for sustainable, meaning highly advanced, cost-effective, environmentally friendly and long-lived structures is outstanding. Therefore steel composite road bridges were analysed in the Sustainable Steel-Composite Bridges in Built Environment RFCS project (SBRI) by means of a holistic approach combining Lifecycle Assessment, Lifecycle Costs and Lifecycle Performance analyses to promote steel in the bridge construction. The partners of the project were the Institute of Structural Design Universität Stuttgart, Universidade Coimbra, Institut français des sciences et technologies des transports, de l'aménagement et des réseaux, BRISA Engenharia e Gestão SA and ArcelorMittal. The paper presents a holistic approach to steel and concrete composite bridges by combining analyses of their environmental, economic and functional qualities. The idea of sustainable design is implemented by the project SBRI+ to increase the acceptance of this new way of sustainable thinking, especially among bridge owners and planners. The project includes the SBRI tool which provides designers and authorities with a tool for the evaluation and comparison of the sustainability of different bridge types in the early stages of design, implementing a holistic lifecycle analysis methodology. This helps to select the best option by considering the pros and cons of each alternative in the entire lifespan of the bridge (i.e. construction, operation and end-of-life stages) as opposed to the simple comparison of initial construction costs.
Steel joints play an important role in the overall seismic behavior of steel frames. In the case of beam‐to‐column joints, the joints are composed of two regions: the connection where the beam and column are fastened together by mechanical means, and the panel zone, which is the region in the column web where deformation occurs. The deformations in the panel zone of the beam‐to‐column joint could significantly affect the seismic behavior of steel joints. In addition, the stiffness of the connection also plays a role. This paper aims to assess the effect of joint modelling on design and the seismic performance of steel moment resisting frames (MRFs) through nonlinear analyses using different modelling strategies. A parametric study is conducted on three steel moment resisting frames of 3, 6 and 9 storeys. These frames are designed for both gravity and seismic load cases according to the current Eurocodes. Beam‐to‐Column joints are designed and characterized based on the pre‐normative design recommendations obtained in the scope of the Equaljoints project. Consequently, simplified modelling methods that disregard the joints, and refined modelling techniques that account for the joints' dimension and behavior are adopted for three different joint types classified based on stiffness and strength of the joints. A systematic assessment of the performance of each frame is assessed through nonlinear analyses. An integrated design and performance assessment tool is developed in Python and implemented using OpenSees.
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