Date of Award

1993

Publication Type

Doctoral Thesis

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Keywords

Engineering, Civil.

Supervisor

Kennedy, J.

Rights

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Abstract

An extensive analytical and experimental investigation was undertaken to study the load distribution characteristics of simply supported and two-equal-span continuous skew composite concrete slab on compact steel girder bridges. Detailed parametric studies were conducted to find the effect of several parameters upon the load distribution characteristics in skew bridges at different stages of loading. In this work, both the nonlinear finite element method and the yield-line theory were employed in the theoretical analyses. The finite element method was used to study the behaviour and response of skew composite bridges in the elastic and post-elastic ranges of loading. The nonlinear finite element analysis was also used to conduct a parametric study and to evaluate the ultimate-load capacity of skew bridges. Moreover, the analysis through yield-line theory was utilized to yield different general formulae to predict the failure load of skew composite bridges. The most probable failure patterns were based on both the experimental and parametric studies. Five small-scale models of four-girder and five-girder skew composite bridges were constructed and tested to failure in order to verify the analytical approaches and to study the load distribution characteristics of skew bridges with varying parameters. The tested models were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of three simply supported single span skew composite bridge models with an angle of skew of 45$\sp\circ$ while the second group consisted of two two-equal-span continuous skew composite bridge models with the same angle of skew as the first group. Good comparisons between the theoretical and experimental results for all five models were shown. The analysis of the results from the parametric study revealed that the ultimate-load capacity and the load distribution characteristics of skew composite bridges are influenced by several factors such as: angle of skew, aspect ratio of the bridge, load position, type of interconnection of different elements of the bridge, continuity, presence of transverse diaphragms, and the sectional moment capacities.Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1993 .H44. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 55-05, Section: B, page: 1947. Adviser: J. B. Kennedy. Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1993.

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