Abstract

Bridges might have time-varying sunlit–shaded areas due to the rotation and revolution of Earth. This work aims at studying the effects of time-varying sunlit–shaded areas on the temperature field of small radius curved concrete box girder bridges. Based on the law of Earth’s rotation and revolution, the solar position is first obtained by considering the relative position between the Sun and the location of the bridge site on Earth. Then, the sunlit–shaded areas of small radius curved concrete bridges are determined using the ray tracing algorithm. With the consideration of various environmental conditions, including the time-varying solar radiation and wind speed, the three-dimensional finite element model of a small radius curved concrete bridge is created in ANSYS and the temperature field of the bridge could be solved. With a 30 m long curved concrete bridge taken as an example, the temperature distribution profiles of the bridge are investigated. The results and analysis provide a good reference for the thermal analysis and design of small radius curved concrete bridges.

Highlights

  • This paper performed a study on the time-varying temperature field of small radius curved concrete box girder bridges

  • Based on the numerical analysis of an example small radius curved concrete box girder bridge in a field project, the following conclusions can be drawn: (1) The maximum variation in the temperature between the upper and lower surfaces of the bridge beam in July is ∼20 ○C, which occurs at the hottest time during a day

  • The maximum variation in the temperature between the roof and the floor of the box girder is ∼15.5 ○C, which occurs at the moment slightly after the peak solar radiation

Read more

Summary

INTRODUCTION

To approach an accurate characterization of the temperature field of a bridge and the solar radiation effects, the most important step is to come up with a reliable model to solve the temperature field. Along this line, Xu4 made an innovative attempt by adopting the finite element method to solve the template field in concrete box girder bridges using the finite element code ANSYS. There are fairly well-developed approaches to evaluate the temperature field in bridges, few research studies have studied the effects of time-varying sunlit–shaded areas on the temperature field of small radius curved bridges. The temperature field of the bridge is solved and analyzed with the consideration of various thermal boundary conditions

DETERMINATION OF THE SOLAR POSITION
CALCULATION OF THE TIME-VARYING SUNLIT–SHADED AREA
TIME-VARYING THERMAL BOUNDARY CONDITIONS IN FINITE ELEMENT ANLAYSIS
Model setup of a small radius curved concrete box girder bridge
Results of the time-varying temperature field
CONCLUSION
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call