Numerical analysis of a soil-shell bridge with a reinforced concrete relieving slab

Abstract

The paper presents the results of numerical analysis of the behaviour under static loads of a soil-shell bridge equipped with a reinforced concrete (RC) relieving slab. The relevant calculations were carried out using Abaqus program based on finite element method (FEM). Two computational models have been derived: one with and the other without a RC relieving slab. The analysis included determination of the effect of the RC relieving slab on the steel shell made of corrugated plates. The results obtained with the two above-mentioned numerical models were compared to show that the relieving slab resulted in a considerable reduction of the displacements and stresses, namely 55-63% for displacements and 73-82% for stress). The maximum displacements occur at the shell crown while the highest stresses occur at the shell quarter-points. The results of calculations were compared with the experimental data and with the results of earlier calculations carried out with Robot Millenium program. The displacement and stress curves are close to the experimental results. Generally the absolute values of displacements and stresses were higher than the experimental data.