Time-Dependent Reliability Assessment of Long-Span PSC Box-Girder Bridge Considering Vehicle-Induced Cyclic Creep

Abstract

The neglect of the cyclic creep of concrete induced by vehicles may overestimate the deflection reliability of long-span prestressed concrete (PSC) box-girder bridges and increase structural safety risks. In this paper, a novel method considering the combined effects of the shrinkage, static creep, and cyclic creep of concrete and the stress relaxation of prestressed tendons is proposed to assess the time-dependent deflection reliability of PSC box-girder bridges. By employing the Kelvin chain model, the conventional integral-type method for calculating the static creep of concrete is converted to rate-type creep analysis, which has a higher computational efficiency and can consider various nonlinear effects. The cyclic creep of concrete is estimated by the fatigue mechanics-based model and integrated into the quasi-elastic incremental constitutive model. The proposed constitutive model is implemented in a general finite-element program DIANA, in which the mechanical behavior of the thin-walled box girder is described by the composite degenerated shell elements. An importance sampling method is applied when estimating the deflection reliability to balance the computational accuracy and efficiency. The proposed method is applied to a long-span PSC box-girder bridge with a main span of 150 m. The results indicate that the cyclic creep of concrete may accelerate the reduction of the deflection reliability indexes, which may fall below the target level before the expected service life of the bridge. In addition, heavy trucks passing in pairs have a significant impact on the deflection reliability. The research findings can be used for the reliable design and optimal maintenance of long-span PSC box-girder bridges.