Parametric study on skew-curved RC box-girder bridges

Abstract

This paper deals with the study of a single-cell reinforced concrete (RC) skew-curved box-girder bridge under both dead and IRC live loads using the finite element method. An existing model is considered to validate the present results. A convergence study is carried out to decide the optimum mesh size. An exhaustive parametric study is carried out in which the effect of skewness and curvature on the maximum bending moment, shear force, torsional moment and vertical deflection in both the girders of a single-cell RC skew-curved box-girder bridge is investigated and the results are presented in comparison to a straight bridge. The curve angle varies from 0° to 60° at an interval of 12° and the skew angle varies from 0° to 60° at an interval of 10°. The highly skew-curved bridge is found to be more beneficial than the curved bridge because the bending moment and deflection are less in the skew-curved bridge than that in the curved bridge. The present study may be useful to the engineers in designing the skew-curved RC box-girder bridges.