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Analysis of Some Skew Bridges As Eight Bridges
Analysis of Some Skew Bridges As Eight Bridges
By Baidar Bakiit1
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INTRODUCTION
FIG. 1. Usual Method of Analyzing Skew Bridges as Right Bridges: (a) Plan of
Skew Bridge; (b) Plan of Equivalent Right Bridge
right bridges. This simple procedure is intended mainly for the determina-
tion of longitudinal moments in slab-on-girder bridges.
FIG. 2. Load Positions on Plan of Right and Skew Bridges: (a) Skew Bridge; (b)
Right Bridge with Orthogonal Pattern of Loads; (e) Right Bridge with Skew Pattern
of Loads
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Keeping the girder span and spacings constant, the plan of the skew
bridge is conceptually deformed so that it becomes right, as shown in Fig.
2(b). The same four loads, as applied to the skew bridge of Fig. 2(a), are
applied to the equivalent right bridge by maintaining their longitudinal
positions on only the left-hand outer girder. An examination of Figs. 2(a)
and 2(b) will readily show that this procedure changes the relative
longitudinal load positions on the second girder.
By contrast to the procedure that led to Fig. 2(b), the bridge plan of the
skew bridge is now conceptually deformed along with the loads. As shown
in Fig. 2(c), the bridge is again made right but in this case the load pattern
on the plan becomes skew. It can be seen that the relative longitudinal
positions of the loads are the same in this equivalent right bridge of Fig.
2(c) as they were in the skew bridge of Fig. 2(a).
If the transverse load distribution characteristics of the bridge were so
poor that the loads would be retained almost entirely by the loaded girders,
the girder moments and shears in the equivalent right bridge of Fig. 2(c)
would be very nearly the same as those for the skew bridge. The same
cannot be said about the equivalent right bridge of Fig. 2(b), for which the
change of longitudinal load positions of one line of wheels would signifi-
cantly affect the responses of the second girder. It can therefore be
concluded that the approximate equivalence represented by Fig. 2(c) is far
superior to that of Fig. 2(b),
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—»-e—
—«H s H*—
-» o
K—• 0 a4
(c)
FIG. 3. Simplistic Models to Study Load Retention in Loaded Girder: (a) Plan of
Skew Grillage; (b) Plan of Equivalent Right Grillage; (c) Girders Considered
Separately
grid is not the same as that accepted by its counterpart in the equivalent
grid.
It can be readily appreciated that the relocation of the points of load
transfer, defined by the distance s shown in Fig. 3(c), depends not only on
the angle of skew but also on the spacing of the longitudinal beams. It can
thus be seen that the skew angle is not the only factor that must be taken
into account while analyzing a skew bridge as right.
Another factor which must be considered is the flexural rigidity of the
transverse beam relative to the flexural rigidities of the longitudinal beams.
In the context of real-life slab-on-girder bridges, the transverse flexural
rigidity of the bridge deck becomes this factor that influences the simpli-
fication.
2S tan $
(2)
' I
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It was shown earlier that the two factors responsible for differences in
girder responses of skew and the equivalent right bridges are the quantity
s and the flexural rigidity of the deck slab with relative to the flexural
rigidity of the girders. It is reassuring to note that these two factors are
implicit in the expressions for the two characterizing parameters.
The degree of error incurred by analyzing a skew bridge as right can
conveniently be considered in terms of a factor A, which is defined by:
(Pn,n)e = 0 ,-..
A = • / s. (3)
(Pn,«)e
where p„„ is the distribution coefficient for girder number n due to a load
also on girder number n. The subscript to p„ „ outside the parentheses
refers to the value of e. As can be seen from Eq. 2, a right bridge (i.e., a
bridge with zero angle of skew) has E equal to zero. Values of A less than
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for three-girder bridges covering the entire practical range of e and t). Two
load cases were considered. In one load case, a single point load was
applied at the midspan of an outer girder, and in the other, a single point
load was applied at the midspan of the middle girder.
It was found that the values of A corresponding to second and higher
harmonics were very nearly equal to 1.0. This is understandable since, as
shown by Jaeger and Bakht (1985b), the loads represented by higher
harmonics are increasingly retained by the externally loaded girders, in
which case changes in the effective flexural rigidities of the various girders
have little effect on load distribution.
Contours of A corresponding to the first harmonic effects of the two load
cases are plotted on the ~t]-e space in Fig. 4. The space covering r\ of less
than about five is not of particular interest because it corresponds to
bridges with very small spans. It can be seen that in the rest of the Tq-e
space, a particular value of A can be maintained by the simultaneous
increase of-n and decrease of e. It is interesting to note that the value of A
is mostly less than 1.0, indicating that the process of analyzing a skew
bridge ajs an equivalent right bridge mostly leads to safe side errors when
only one of the girders is directly loaded.
500
400
300
200
100
This follows.
Using the familiar orthotropic plate notation, for the first harmonic, Eq.
1 can be rewritten as:
12 (LV (Dy
"= 7 ^ ^ l (4)
0 15 30 45 60
<j), degress
NUMERICAL EXAMPLES
O SKEW BRIDGE
D — RIGHT BRIDGE
= 0.1295 m
4
» 0.0003 m
S U B THICKNESS = 180 MM
LOAD CASE 2
LOAD CASE 1
80
* /*"'"""" """'"' hf
_/
1000 L-T 100 L
FIG. 8. Girder Moments at Midspan and Support Reactions in 30° Skew Bridge
LOAD CASE 2
1000L 100
FIG. 9. Girder Moments at Midspan and Support Reactions in 45° Skew Bridge
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16.0 m
p GIRDER MOMENTS AT MID-SPAN, kN-m
a
Q.
10 a>
-* a. -L
f
1 ransverss girder Transversa gir !@r Transverse cjirder
position position position
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n Mi
fp
¥
I -
/
0
-
f/i
i
ij 45° SKEW
1000
i
I
FIG. 11. Girder Moments at Midspan in Bridges with Low Values of Longitudinal
Flexural Rigidities
Fig. 9 presents the same data as given in Fig. 8, except that it relates to
the bridge with a skew angle of 45°. In this case again, the longitudinal
moments due to the two idealizations are fairly close, with a 8 of about
—5%. The charts of Fig. 6 give a 8 of —4%, again confirming their validity.
For this case, 8 for support reactions is about 20%.
Results for the bridge with 60° skew are given in Fig. 10. In this case, 8
for maximum longitudinal moment as obtained by the grillage analogy is
about —12%, with the corresponding value obtained from Fig. 6 being
equal to about - 1 5 % . The gap between the support reactions obtained by
the two idealizations widens even further with 8 being equal to 22%.
The girder flexural rigidities used in these analyses were somewhat on
the higher side. These analyses were repeated by reducing the girder
rigidities to conform to the lower-bound values of Dx given by Eq. 6. It is
noted that these lower-bound values of longitudinal flexural rigidity are
rarely realized for bridges with such short spans as those of the bridges
under consideration. The results of the analyses are summarized in Fig. 11
for midspan longitudinal moments, for which 8 was found to be equal to
- 2 , - 1 0 , and - 2 7 % for bridge with angles of skew of 30°, 45°, and 60°,
respectively. These values of 8 confirm that the charts of Fig. 6 provide
conservatively safe estimates of errors in determining longitudinal mo-
ments by treating skew bridges as right.
It was found that the reduction of the longitudinal flexural rigidity also
leads to increases in the value of 8 for longitudinal shear.
1 1 1 I 1 TTTTT
External girder, load case 1
1.0 2.0
Stan^m
CONCLUSIONS
1. It is clear from the results presented that the ratio (S tan cb/Z.), rather
than <j>, should be taken as an appropriate measure of skewness.
2. It has been shown that when rigorous methods for right bridges are
used for analyzing skew bridges, the preferred rearrangement of loads on
the plan is as illustrated in Fig. 2(c).
3. When the simplification identified in the second conclusion is fol-
lowed, the resulting maximum moments are always smaller than actual
with the minimum degree of error, as shown in Fig. 6.
4. The simplification identified in the second conclusion is not recom-
mended for use in obtaining longitudinal shears because the error thus
involved is always on the unsafe side.
5. D values, corresponding to the simplified methods of analysis, can be
safely used for bridges of any skew angle to calculate longitudinal moments
in both external and internal girders and longitudinal shear in only external
girders. The values thus calculated will always be smaller than actual, with
the difference between the two increasing with increase in (S tan 4>/L).
6. The D-type method for calculating longitudinal shear in internal
girders of skew bridges can lead to unsafe errors; its use is recommended
for bridges with (S tan §IL) up to only 0.05.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
APPENDIX. REFERENCES
Bakht, B., and Moses, F. (1988). "Lateral distribution factors in highway bridges."
J. Struct. Engrg., ASCE, 114(8).
Cheung, Y. K. (1975). Finite strip methods in structural analysis. John Wiley and
Sons, Inc., London, England.
Cusens, A. R., and Pama, R. P. (1975). Bridge deck analysis. John Wiley and Sons,
Inc., London, England.
Jaeger, L. G., and Bakht, B. (1982). "The grillage analogy in bridge analysis." Can.
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Jaeger, L. G., and Bakht, B. (1985b). "The use of harmonics in the semi-continuum
analysis of bridges." Proc. Annual Conference of the Canadian Society for Civ.
Engrg., Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, 83-97.
Jaeger, L. G., Bakht, B., and Surana, C. S. (1988). "Application of analysis of
three-girder skew bridges." Second International Colloquium on Concrete in
Developing Countries, Bombay, India.
Ontario highway bridge design code. (1983). Ontario Ministry of Transportation
and Communications, Downsview, Ontario, Canada.
Standard specifications for highway bridges. (1984). American Association of State
Highway and Transportation Officials, Washington, D.C.
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