Effects of temperature changes on voided slab integral abutment bridge

Abstract

Integral Abutment Bridges (IABs) are joint-less bridges whereby the deck is monolithic with the abutment walls. IABs are outperforming their non-integral counterparts in economy and safety. Thermal effects introduce significantly complex and nonlinear soil-structure interaction into the response of abutment walls and piles of the IB. This paper carried out comprehensive study on voided slab system with five spans bridge each span is 17m long. The bridge has been modelled using SAP software. The abutments and pile foundations are modeled taking into consideration the soil-structure interaction. The study covered a design uniform temperature change of (10, 20, 30, 40 and 50) °C. To gain a better understanding of the mechanism of load transfer due to thermal actions, a 3D frame anal¬ysis is carried out on the above mentioned IABs. The results showed wide range of different linear and lightly non-linear relationships between temperature range, deformations and moments. The paper highlighted the serious effect of the deformations resulting from the repeated temperature change which causes drop in soil or bombing at the abutments ~ embankment contact zone.