Finite strip analysis of right box girder bridges using computed shape functions

Abstract

A spline finite strip method using computed shape functions in the transverse direction is presented for the analysis of right box girder bridges. The shape functions for a few selected degrees of freedom necessary for the analysis are first obtained from the conventional finite strip analysis of a hypothetical simply supported span of the bridge using only the first harmonic of the Fourerr sine series. The displacement function of the bridge is then expressed as a product of longitudinal B 3-spline expressions and the above-mentioned computed shape functions. As the number of shape functions adopted in the proposed method is much smaller than the total number of degrees of freedom in each cross-section, it results in a relatively narrow band matrix which requires little computational effort to solve. Numerical results are compared with other available analytical and numerical solutions.