Abstract
Bridges have an important role in impacting the civilization, growth and economy of cities from ancient time until these days due to their function in reducing transportation cost and time. Therefore, development of bridges has been a knowledge domain in civil engineering studies in terms of their types and construction materials to confirm a reliable, safe, economic design and construction. Girder-bridge of concrete deck and I-beam girder has been used widely for short and medium span bridges because of ease and low-cost of fabrication. However, many theoretical and practical investigations are still undertaken regarding the type of beam girder; i.e steel composite or prestressed concrete. This paper evaluates the effect of bridge span and the type of girder on the capital cost and life cycle costs of bridges. Three types of girders were investigated in this research: steel composite, pre-tensioned pre-stressed concrete and post-tensioned pre-stressed concrete. The structural design was analyzed for 5 span lengths: 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40m. Then, the capital construction cost was accounted for 15 bridges according to each span and construction materials. Moreover, the maintenance required for 50 years of bridge life was evaluated and built up as whole life costs for each bridge. As a result of this study, the influence of both span length and type of girder on initial construction cost and maintenance whole life costs were assessed to support the decision makers and designers in the selection process for the optimum solution of girder bridges.
Highlights
Bridges have an important role in impacting the civilization life due to their function in reducing transportation cost and time
Three kinds of construction materials are selected for the girders of bridge: steel composite girder, pre-tensioned pre-stressed concrete girder and posttensioned pre-stressed concrete girder
It is worth mentioning that Florida Department Of Transportation (FDOT) estimates the average cost of construction Pre-stress concrete I-girder simple span bridge as 12% less than using steel girder [6]
Summary
Bridges have an important role in impacting the civilization life due to their function in reducing transportation cost and time. Steel composite I-Beam or pre-stressed I-beam is about 45 years which is 17 years more than using box-girder beam This is another reason behind choosing I-beam for this study. Many researchers have tried to answer the question of girder-bridge cost in respect of both span length and life cycle. Jagtab and Shahezad (2016) [4] studied various spans of I-girder bridge to compare between the initial cost of using pre-stressed concrete girder or steel girder. As a conclusion of their work, the pre-stressed I-girder bridge is the lowest cost compared to the composite steel I-girder. It is worth mentioning that Florida Department Of Transportation (FDOT) estimates the average cost of construction Pre-stress concrete I-girder simple span bridge as 12% less than using steel girder [6]. More studies still need to be undertaken to answer the bridge cost question according to span and materials in use where this paper analysed these costs for different spans
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