International Refereed Journal of Engineering and Science (IRJES)

ISSN (Online) 2319-183X, (Print) 2319-1821

Volume 3, Issue 2 (January 2014), PP.50-55

Parametric Study of Horizontally Curved Box Girders

for Torsional Behavior and Stability
Ashish B Sarode, G R Vesmawala
Department of Applied Mechanics, S V National Institute of Technology, Surat, Gujarat, India.

Abstract:- The horizontally curved alignments for the urban interchanges or highway bridges are becoming
more common and it is necessary to construct the structures curved in plan. Due to the effect of horizontal
curvature of the box girders, torsional moments are predominant. Also the support reactions on the outer
supports increase whereas on inner support decreases, which may leads the instability of the box girder. The
outer web is longer than the inner web due to which the mid-span deflections are more at the outer web than the
inner web. In this paper, the numerous models for curved box girders are analysed using LUSAS FEA software
for different parameters such as span lengths, radii and loadings and the flexural and trosional behavior, stability
and mid-span deflections of the curved box girders of various parameters are discussed.

Keywords:- Curved box girders; Torsional behavior; mid-span deflections; curved box girder stability; finite
element method, LUSAS.

I. INTRODUCTION
The horizontally curved alignments for the urban interchanges or highway bridges are becoming more
common and it is necessary to construct the structures curved in plan. Due to the requirements of more stringent
route and high torsional stiffness as well as a desire for a greater sense of aesthetics, curved box girder bridges
have become increasingly popular and have been an interesting subject of research [1].
Superstructures on the curved alignment can be constructed of steel or concrete I-girders in composite
action with a concrete deck or constructed of box girder, Since, it is well known that I-girders are weak in
torsion; Box girders are more popular due to its great torsional rigidity.
Analysis and design of the box girder can be divided into two parts i.e. longitudinal analysis (i.e.
analysis along traffic direction) and transverse analysis (i.e. across traffic direction). The stresses and the
deformations in the transverse analysis are dependent of the cross-sectional members properties of the box
girder. In Longitudinal direction the bending moment, shear and torsion of the curved box girders varies with
the different spans lengths and radius.
There are several methods available for the analysis of box girder bridges. In each analysis method, the
three-dimensional bridge structure is usually simplified by means of assumptions in the geometry, materials and
the relationship between its components. The accuracy of the structural analysis is dependent upon the choice of
a particular method and its assumptions. Available research works on some methods are grillage analogy
method, orthotropic plate theory method, folded plate method, finite strip method, finite element method,
computer programming and experimental studies. E.C. Hambly et al. [2] applied grillage analogy method to the
multi-cell superstructure and R. Kissane et al. [3] to curved multi-spine box-girder bridges. M. S. Cheung et al.
[4] dealt with the calculation of the longitudinal bending moment and transverse shear in multi-spine/web box-
girder bridges using grillage analogy method and orthotropic plate theory method. A. C. Scordelis [5] developed
an analytical procedure for determining longitudinal stresses, transverse moments and vertical deflections in
folded plate structures by utilizing matrix algebra. M. S. Cheung M S et al. [6] applied finite strip method to
analyze curved box girders. K. H. Chu et al. [7] developed a finite element approach for analyzing curved box
girder bridges. C. P. Heins et al. [8] studied and analysed the Curved beam. C. P. Heins et al. [9] developed a
program for the analysis simple or multi-span composite or non-composite steel box girder bridges.
In this paper, the numerous models are analysed for different parameters such as span length, radius of
horizontally curved alignment of box girder and loadings. Due to the effect of horizontal curvature of the box
girders, torsional moments are predominant. Also the support reactions on the outer supports increase whereas
on inner support decreases, which may leads the instability of the box girder. The outer web is longer than the
inner web due to which the mid-span deflections are more at the outer web than the inner web. Hence the
flexural and trosional behavior, stability and mid-span deflections of the curved box girders of various
parameters are discussed.

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 Parametric Study of Horizontally Curved Box Girders for Torsional Behavior and Stability

II. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

In this paper, the three-dimensional finite element thick shell models are analysed for different
parameters such as span length, radius of horizontally curved alignment, depth of box girders and loadings. The
objectives of the study are as follows:
a) Compare the variation of bending moments, torsion and shear due to variation in curvature.
b) Variation in deflections at mid-span of inner and outer webs of the box girder.
c) Compare maximum and minimum reactions and check for stability against
overturning. The parameters considered for modeling box girders are as follows:
i) Overall Span lengths - From 20m to 45m in multiples of 5m.
ii) Radius of curvature 75m, 90m, 100m, 150m, 200m, 250m, 300m, 400m and 500m.
iii) Depth Span to depth ratio of 16 is adopted. The depths for different spans are as follows:

Table-1: Depths corresponding to the lengths for L/D ratio of 16

L (m) 20 25 30 35 40 45
D (m) 1.25 1.5625 1.875 2.1875 2.5 2.8125

iv) Box type - Single-cell rectangular box girder having 7.5m 2-Lanes carriageway with overall deck width of
8.5m is considered.
v) Geometric considerations - The web thickness for the mid sections is kept 300mm and the at end section up
to L/10 it is kept 500mm. The web is varied from 500mm to 300mm between L/10 to L/5. E.g. For 20m span,
the web thickness of 500mm is kept 2m from end and varying web from 2m to 4 m.

Fig-1: Cross-sectional dimensions of Rectangular Box Girder.

vi) The Loading considered in the analysis are -
a) Self weight (DL) of box girder
b) Super-imposed dead load (SIDL) form crash-barriers and wearing coat.
c) Live Load (LL) as per the IRC Loading such as 1-Lane Class 70R vehicle of 100ton or 2-Lanes
Class A vehicles of 110.8 tons; whichever will create the worst effect. The appropriate impact factors
as per IRC: 6-2010 [10] is applied to live load for different span lengths.

The analysis is carried out using the commercially available FEM software LUSAS Bridge Plus [11]
for the above parameters.

III. FINITE ELEMENT MODELING AND ELEMENT DESCRIPTION

LUSAS is one of the world's leading structural analysis systems. The LUSAS system uses finite
element analysis techniques to provide accurate solutions for all types of linear and nonlinear stress, dynamic,
and thermal/field problems. The two main components of the system are LUSAS Modeller and LUSAS Solver.
LUSAS Modeller is a fully interactive graphical user interface for model building and viewing of results from
an analysis. LUSAS Solver is a powerful finite element analysis engine that carries out the analysis of the
problem defined in LUSAS Modeller.
The components of the box girder are modeled with the thick shell surface geometry. Further the
Surface geometry is discretise by generating mesh of elements which are defined by four nodes, thicknesses and
the concrete material properties as per IRC: 18-2000 [12] and IRC: 21-2000 [13]. The model generated in the
LUSAS is shown in the Figure2, 3, 4 below.

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 Parametric Study of Horizontally Curved Box Girders for Torsional Behavior and Stability

Fig-2: Curved Box girder model developed with LUSAS

Fig-3: Model with member properties

Fig-4: Model with load application

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The horizontally curved box girders of 20 to 45m span lengths in combinations with radius of 75m,
90m, 100m, 150m, 200m, 250m, 300m, 400m and 500m totaling 54 models are analysed and the results for
torsional moments, mid-span deflections and the reactions for Dead Load, Super-imposed Dead Load and Live
Load are presented.
a) Variation in torsion, bending moments and shear against span radius
The maximum torsion, bending moments and shear forces for various span lengths and radii are
compared. Figure 5, 6 and 7 shows the variations with the span radius.

Fig-5: Variation in Torsion against span radius

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 Parametric Study of Horizontally Curved Box Girders for Torsional Behavior and Stability

Fig-6: Variation in Bending moments against span radius

Fig-7: Variation in Shear against span radius

From the above figures, it is observed that there is no significant change in bending moments and shear
forces for a span with different radii, but the torsional moments varies greatly due to the curvature effect. There
is tremendous increase in torsion with decreasing span radius.

b) Mid-span deflections
For straight spans, all the webs are of same lengths hence there is no variation in the mid-span
deflections below webs. But in curved box girders the length of the outer web is greater than the inner web and
the load contribution for the outer web is more due to curvature effect which creates the torsion in the box girder
hence the deflections below the outer web are more than that of inner web. The Figure shows the Mid-span
deformation shape for the box girder.

Fig-8: Mid-span deformation shape for the box girder.

Fig-9: Variation in the mid-span deflections for inner and outer webs.
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 Parametric Study of Horizontally Curved Box Girders for Torsional Behavior and Stability

From the above Fig-9, it is observed that the mid-span deflections for the greater radius is nearly equal
for a span, but the variation in the deflections is significant for the span radius below 200m.

c) Maximum and minimum reactions and stability against overturning

The curvature effect gives the maximum reaction on the outer support and minimum reaction at inner
support of the box girder. The maximum and minimum reactions due to combined dead load, SIDL, live load,
and centrifugal force for the box girder models worked out and the variation in the reactions on the inner and
outer bearings for the above results is as shown in the Figure 10 below. The Max R indicates the maximum
reaction on the outer support whereas Min R is the minimum reaction on the inner support.

Fig-10: The variation in the reactions on the inner and outer bearings

There are some negative reactions which indicate that the box girders are not stable. Since overturning
effects due to other factors such as wind load, seismic forces etc are not considered in the study, the stability of
the box girders may be checked by considering the factor of safety against overturning of 1.5. Hence, the factor
of safety against overturning of the box girders are worked out considering the ratio of stabilizing moments to
the overturning moments as tabulated below.

Table-2: Factor of Safety against overturning for the box girders

Span Radius (m)
(m) 75 90 100 150 200 250 300 400 500
20 1.5 1.9 2.2 3.2 4.2 5.1 5.8 7.2 17.1
25 1.5 2.0 2.2 3.5 4.5 5.6 6.5 8.1 9.5
30 1.4 1.9 2.2 3.6 4.9 6.1 7.1 9.0 10.6
35 1.0 1.6 1.9 3.5 5.0 6.3 7.5 9.7 11.5
40 0.6 1.2 1.5 3.2 4.9 6.3 7.7 10.2 12.3
45 0.0 0.6 1.0 2.8 4.6 6.2 7.7 10.4 12.8
From the above table, it is observed that the box girders having the factor of safety against overturning
less than 1.5 are not feasible or the sharp radius shall be avoided. If such sharp curves are unavoidable then the

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 Parametric Study of Horizontally Curved Box Girders for Torsional Behavior and Stability

structural changes to the cross-sectional dimensions are made to stabilize or hold-downs or tension bearings are
introduced to stabilize the box girders.

V. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper numerous curved box girder superstructure models are analysed for the various
parameters such as span lengths, radius of curvature and loading are carried out using LUSAS Finite Element
analysis software to access the more accurate bending moments, shear, torsion, mid-span deflections and
support reactions. The conclusions made in this study are as follows:
1. It is observed that there is no significant variation in the bending moments and the shear forces for
DL, SIDL and LL for the specific span length with different radii.
2. The torsional moments increase greatly with the decrease of the span radius of the box girder. There
is more variation in torsion with span radius below 200m, whereas less variation for span radius above 300m.
3. The mid-span deflections at the soffit of the outer and inner webs vary significantly with radius of
curvature of the box girder. For radius less than 200m there is considerable variation in the deflections. Such
variation in mid-span deflection shall be accounted while achieving the required superelevations of the deck.
3. From the reactions, it is observed that the box girders having the factor of safety against overturning
less than 1.5 are not feasible. The sharp radius below 100m shall be avoided. If such sharp curves are
unavoidable then it may require structural changes to the cross-sectional dimensions to stabilize or hold-downs
or tension bearings are introduced to stabilize the box girders which may increase the construction cost.

REFERENCES
[1]. Dongzhou Huang, Ton-Lo Wang and M. Shahawy, Vibration of horizontally curved box girder
bridges due to vehicles Computers and Structures 68. 1998, 513-528.
[2]. E. C. Hambly and E. Pennells, Grillage analysis applied to cellular bridge decks, Struct. Eng., 53(7),
267275. 1975.
[3]. R. Kissane and D. B. Beal, Field testing of horizontally curved steel girder bridges, Research Rep. 27,
U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Washington, D.C, 1975.
[4]. M. S. Cheung, B. Bakht, and L. G. Jaeger, Analysis of boxgirder bridges by grillage and orthotropic
plate methods, Can. J. Civ. Eng., 9(4), 595601. 1982.
[5]. A. C. Scordelis, A matrix Formulation of the Folded Plate Equations, ASCE, Journal of the Structural
Division, St(10), Oct. 1960
[6]. M. S. Cheung and Y. K. Cheung, Analysis of curved box girder bridges by the finite-strip method,
International Association of Bridges and Structural Engineering, lAB SE, 31 (1): 1-8. 1971.
[7]. K. H. Chu and S. G. Pinjarkar, Analysis of Horizontally Curved Box Girder Bridges, ASCE, Journal of
the Structural Division, Vo1.97, No.ST10, Oct.l971.
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Vol. 6, 1974
[9]. C. P. Heins and F. H. Sheu, Design / Analysis Of Curved Box Girder Bridges, Computers and
structures Vol. 15, 1982
[10]. IRC: 6-2010 Section: II Loads and Stresses
[11]. LUSAS FEA Manual.
[12]. IRC: 18-2000, Design criteria for prestressed concrete road bridges.
[13]. IRC: 21-2000, Standard specifications and code of practice for road bridges.

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