Analysis of structural diseases in widened structure due to the shrinkage and creep difference of new bridge

Abstract

In order to investigate the possible structural diseases brought to the top flange of existing prestressed concrete box girder bridge due to the shrinkage and creep difference between new and old bridge, the stress state of the existing box girder before and after widening and the mechanisms of potential structural diseases were analyzed using finite element method in this paper. Results showed that the inner flange of the old box girder were generally in the state of large tensile stress, the main reason for which was the shrinkage and creep effect difference of the new and old bridge. And the tensile stress was larger than tensile strength of C50 concrete, which would most likely cause crack in the deck plate of box girder. Hence, reinforcement measures are needed to be designed carefully. Meanwhile, the transverse deformation of widened structure had exceeded the distance between the anti-seismic block and the web of box girder at the end cross section, which would squeeze anti-seismic block severely. Therefore, it is necessary to limit the length of continuous bridge in need of widening.