Evaluation of time-dependent deflections on balanced cantilever bridges

Abstract

The use of prestressed concrete box girder bridges built by segmentally balanced cantilevers has bloomed in the last decades due to its significant structural and construction advantages in complex topographies. In Colombia, this typology is the most common solution for structures with spans ranging of 80-200 m. Despite its popularity, excessive deflections in bridges worldwide evidenced that time-dependent effects were underestimated. This problem has led to the constant updating of the creep and shrinkage models in international code standards. Differences observed between design processes of box girder bridges of the Colombian code and Eurocode, led to the need for a validation of in-service status of these structures. This study analyzes the long-term behavior of the Tablazo bridge with data scarcity. The measured leveling of this structure is compared with a finite-element model that consider the most widely used creep and shrinkage models in the literature. Finally, an adjusted model evidence excessive deflection on the bridge after six years. Monitoring of this bridge typology in Colombia and updating of the current design code is recommended.