Study on flexural load bearing performance of small radius steel plate composite girder bridge

Abstract

The study of flexural load capacity of small radius steel plate composite girder bridges is of great academic and engineering value. This study is based on an actual engineering project and modelled by MIDAS finite element software, aiming to explore the limit states of load carrying capacity of small radius steel plate girder bridges under various conditions. The results show that under different radii of curvature, the flexural performance of the inner and outer main girders is similar, and as the radius of curvature increases from R100 to R400, the maximum positive stress of the combined girder bridge changes less and does not exceed its resistance value, revealing the low sensitivity of flexural load carrying capacity to the radius of curvature. While the load carrying performance of inner and outer main girders is still similar when examining different calculated span diameters, the adverse effect of the positive temperature gradient on the flexural performance is more obvious, which makes the flexural load carrying capacity show a high sensitivity to the change of the calculated span diameter. Finally, when different numbers of main girders are considered, the positive stress values of each main girder are similar, and the sensitivity of the flexural capacity to the number of main girders remains low despite the relatively unfavourable effect of the positive temperature gradient. The study of flexural capacity of small-radius steel plate composite girder bridges is of great significance for the structural design and safety assessment of bridges.