Numerical assessment of effective width in steel-concrete composite box girder bridges

Abstract

The present paper aims to determine numerically in the Abaqus® software the parameters that have the greatest influence on the effective width of steel-concrete composite box girder bridges. In the technical standards and in the literature, there is no specific recommendation for calculating the effective width in steel-concrete composite box girder bridge. As an alternative, the existing recommendations for steel-concrete composite I-girders are adopted. Therefore, in the absence of standards recommendations for steel-concrete composite box girder bridges, there is a need for an investigation into the distribution of stresses at the steel-concrete interface, because if the effective width was admitted incorrectly, may result in costly or even unsafe solutions. For this purpose, the effective numerical width of 160 models of steel-concrete composite box girder bridges was determined, in which the study variables were the configuration of the transversal section, the slab height, the span length and the elements arrangement in the cross section. After analyzing the results, it was proposed a recommendation to determine effective width of steel-concrete composite box girder bridges.

Effective width of steel-concrete composite box girder bridges: a review and method comparison

“…In view of the most relevant research cited, it can be observed that studies on the shear lag effect have a very varied focus. For the purposes of this work, papers that present a method for calculating the effective width of steel-concrete composite girder bridges were selected: Gara et al (2011), Zhu et al (2015), Yuan et al (2016) and Nicoletti et al (2021b), in addition to the standard recommendations of AASHTO (2017) and EN 1994-2-2 (CEN, 2005b. In section 3, these methods were explained and, in section 4, they were compared and discussed.…”

“…Based on a large amount of theoretical data from the parametric analysis performed, Yuan et al proposed Equation (14) to calculate the effective width coefficient. Nicoletti et al (2021b) numerically determined in the Abaqus ® software, in a qualitative and quantitative way, the parameters that exert the greatest influence on the effective width of steel-concrete composite box girder bridges. For this purpose, 260 simply supported models were evaluated, in which the study variables were the configuration of the cross section, the height of the slab, the length of the span, the arrangement of elements in the cross section and the degree of steel-concrete interaction.…”

“…It has a number of advantages, such as greater torsional rigidity, durability, construction and maintenance, aesthetic as well as economic advantages (Su, Yang, & Wu, 2012;Zhou, Jiang, & Yu, 2013;Fatemi, Ali, & Sheikh, 2016;Soto, Caldentey, Peiretti, & Benítez, 2020). In addition, steelconcrete composite box girder bridges are a structural system that offers economic, constructive and lower environmental impact advantages, since it optimizes the use of steel and concrete materials, allocating tensile stresses to steel and compressive stresses to concrete (Nicoletti, Rossi, Souza, & Martins, 2021a;2021b).…”

“…Acta Scientiarum. Technology, v. 46, e64764, 2024 In the context of steel-concrete composite bridges, the effective width is a widely studied topic (Dezi, Gara, & Leoni, 2003;Amadio, Fedrigo, Fragiacomo, & Macorini, 2004;Chiewanichakorn, Aref, Chen, & Ahn, 2004;Macorini, Fragiacomo, Amadio, & Izzuddin, 2006;Gara, Leoni, & Dezi, 2009;Gara, Ranz i, & Leoni, 2011;Salama & Nassif, 2011;Wang & Nie, 2015;Zhu, Nie, Li, & Ji, 2015a;Galuppi & Royer -Carfagni, 2016;Yuan, Deng, Yang, Weijian, & Zhenggeng, 2016a;Reginato, Tamayo, & Morsch, 2018;Lasheen, Shaat, & Khalil, 2018;Silva, & Dias, 2018;Nicoletti et al, 2021a;2021b). One of the justifications for the high number of researches is the fact that the effective width is a parameter that directly influences the design of these structures.…”

Numerical Analysis and Evaluation of Effective Slab Width of Composite Continuous Beams With Semi-Rigid Joint

“…Most of the existing studies [1,[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] concerning the definition of the effective width are based on cantilever or simply supported beams. However, continuous beams or semi-continuous beams (i.e., beams with semirigid joints at their extremities) are regularly met in buildings; in these beams, regions subjected to sagging and hogging bending are identified.…”