Robust Concrete Bridges without Bearings and Joints

Designing robust structures – A nonlinear simulation based approach

“…According to the first point of view a system is considered as robust if it can survive inappropriate use, exceptional overloading, extreme environmental conditions, unforeseen events, and abnormal situations without a substantial loss of serviceability and safety [1,2]. Recent developments in this direction aim at ensuring a minimum structural robustness to avoid disproportionate extent of collapse due to local damage caused by accidental events, see [3].…”

“…x 2 0 ( ) x [2] x [1] , x [1]x • The hypercube formed by D k itself may be taken as a basis to select its center of gravity s ½k ¼ ðs ½k 1 ; . .…”

Robust Design with Uncertain Data and Response Surface Approximation

“…Qualitative concepts according to e.g. (Pötzl and Schlaich, 1996;Starossek, 2009;Knoll and Vogel, 2009) are based on a collection of aspects, methods and strategies which should be considered in the design process. In (Knoll and Vogel, 2009) qualitative concepts are summarized under the headlines: strength, structural integrity and solidarization, second line of defense, multiple load path or redundancy, ductility, zipper stopper to prevent progressive failure, capacity design, sacrificial and protective devices, knock-out scenarios, stiffness considerations, strain hardening, post buckling resistance, warning and active intervention, testing and monitoring, quality control as well as mechanical devices.…”

Analytical and Experimental Research on the Possibilities of Attaining a Monolithic Connection With Earthquake Resistance, Aesthetic and Economic Advantages for the Prefabricated Bridges

“…The bearings and the expansion joints are two types of accessories, that are absolutely necessary for the serviceability of the structural system of a prefabricated bridge, burden significantly on the one hand the construction cost and on the other the maintenance cost of these projects, having as a result that the second one can sometimes reach the level of construction cost [2]. Furthermore, the non-economicity comes from the forced recourse to the inevitably, due to the construction way, series of simply supported spans and the resignation from attaining an integral system, through which a significant relief in moments at the spans would be achieved through the utilization of the supports.…”