Strength and behavior of a vertically pre-tensioned composite rigid frame bridge

Abstract

In this study, a new type of composite rigid frame bridge is developed, and its feasibility was validated through a full-scale test. The core technology of the proposed bridge entails the introduction of prestressing force to steel girders by applying vertical prestressing to readily embedded high-strength steel bars at the pier wall. The proposed prestressed rigid frame bridge was designed to reduce the cross section and increase the girder spacing through distribution of moments. In order to analyze the feasibility of the proposed bridge, a full-scale test bridge was designed and fabricated, and the load test and the non-linear finite element analysis were subsequently performed on it. It was found that the proposed bridge effectively introduced preflexing through vertical prestressing, and its failure behaviors were gradual as a result of bending failure rather than sudden failure at the support.