PARAMETRIC STUDY OF CURVED STEEL BRIDGES SUPPORTED ON NARROW CONCRETE PIERS by JASON ERIC OLSEN, B.S.C.E. THESIS Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ENGINEERING THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN May 1994PARAMETRIC STUDY OF CURVED STEEL BRIDGES SUPPORTED ON NARROW CONCRETE PIERS APPROVED:ABSTRACT PARAMETRIC STUDY OF CURVED STEEL BRIDGES SUPPORTED ON NARROW CONCRETE PIERS by JASON ERIC OLSEN, MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ENGINEERING ‘THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN, 1994 SUPERVISOR: MICHAEL ENGELHARDT This study investigates horizontally curved steel plate girder bridges supported on narrow concrete piers as currently used by the Texas Department of Transportation. All longitudinal girders are supported on individual bearings at the ends of the bridge, but at the intermediate supports, the girders connect to steel bent caps. Each bent cap is supported by a narrow concrete pier through two bearings spaced six to twelve feet apart. Because the bridge is not supported across its full width at the intermediate supports, downward live loads placed on the bridge outside of the bearings tend to increase compression in the closer bearing but tend to decrease compression in the further bearing. Finite element analyses of some typical bridges were conducted to determine the load placements which maximize or minimize compression in the bearings. The results of the analyses were used to produce simplified load patterns which can be used in the design of the bearings. Another consequence of supporting the deck on narrow piers is that such a support condition violates the assumptions of the V-load method, an analysis