• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.47-53
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• 2014

The paper investigates the limit state of deflection for short and medium span steel girder bridges. Deflection depends on stiffness of steel girders and integrity of the reinforced concrete slab (composite action). Load and resistance parameters are treated as random variables. A probabilistic model is developed for prediction of the deflection. The structural performance can be affected by deterioration of components, in particular corrosion of steel girders. In addition, the creep of concrete can greatly influence the deflection of composite structures. Therefore, the statistical models for creep and corrosion of structural steel are incorporated in the model. Structures designed according to the AASHTO LRFD Code are considered. Load and resistance models are developed to account for time-variability of the parameters. Monte Carlo simulations are used to estimate the deflections and probabilities of serviceability failure. Different span lengths and girder spacing are considered for structures designed as moment-controlled and deflection-controlled. A summary of obtained results is presented.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.74-82
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• 2017

Localized corrosions damages in their structural sections can be occurred affected by installed environment conditions with high temperature as near the coastline and humidity or their poor maintenance situation. In bearing supports of steel bridges, especially, lower web and vertical stiffener in end girder support can be easily corroded because of relatively higher humidity due to the narrow space in the end of girder and the wetted accumulated sediments affected by rain water or antifreezing admixture leaked from expansion joint. It can be related to change in their structural performance. In this study, thus, bearing strength test specimens were fabricated considering corrosion damage in the web and vertical stiffeners and the change in their bearing strengths were experimentally evaluated. From the test results, localized corrosion damage of structural members in the end girder affected the bearing strength of end girder support, especially, localized corrosion damage of the vertical stiffener relatively highly affected their bearing strengths.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.4 no.1 s.11
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• pp.49-59
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• 2004

A previous study evaluated the seismic response of typical multi-span simply supported (MSSS) and multi-span continuous (MSC) steel-girder bridges in the central and southeastern United States. The results showed that the bridges were vulnerable to damage resulting from impact between decks, and large ductility demands on nonductile columns. Furthermore, fixed and expansion bearings were likely to fail during strong ground motion. In this paper, several retrofit measures to improve the seismic performance of typical multi-span simply supported and multi-span continuous steel girder bridges are evaluated, including the use of elastomeric bearings, lead-rubber bearings, and restrainer cables. It is determined that iead-rubber bearings are the most effective retrofit measure for reducing the seismic vulnerability of typical bridges. While isolation provided by elastomeric bearings limits the forces into the columns, the added flexibility results in pounding between decks in the MSSS steel-girder bridge. Restrainer cables, which are becoming a common retrofit measure, are only moderately effective in reducing the seismic vulnerability of MSSS and MSC steel girder bridges.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.717-726
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• 2006

Traditional external post-tensioning method using either steel bars or tendons is commonly used as a retrofitting method for steel composite bridges. However, the method has some disadvantages such as stress concentration at anchorages and inefficient load-carrying capability of live loads. Multi-stepwise prestressing method using thermal expanded coverplate is a newly proposed prestressing method, which was originally developed for prestressing steel structures. A new retrofitting method for steel girder bridges founded on a simple concept of thermal expansion and contraction of cover plate, the method is a hybrid of and combines the advantages of external post-tensioning and thermal prestressing. In this paper, basic concepts of the method are presented and an illustrative experiment is introduced. From actual experimental data, the thermal prestressing effect was substantiated and the FEM approach for its analysis was verified. The retrofitting effects ofa single-span bridge were analyzed and the feasibility of the developed method was examined.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.195-202
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• 2008

Underestimation of the capacity can have serious economic consequences, as deficient bridges must be posted, repaired or replaced. Accurate prediction of bridge behavior may allow for more bridges to remain in service with or without minor repairs. The presented research is focused on the reliability evaluation of the actual load carrying capacity of existing bridges based on the field testing. Reliability analysis is performed on 17 previously tested bridges. Bridges are first evaluated based on the code specified values and design resistance. However, after the field testing program, it is possible to apply the experimental results into the bridge reliability evaluation procedures. The girder distribution factors obtained from the tests are also applied in the reliability calculation. The results indicate that the reliability indices of selected bridges can be significantly increased due to the reduction of uncertainties without sacrificing the safety of structures, by including the result of field measurement data into calculation.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.105-118
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• 2014

The number of the deteriorated bridge has been sharply increased due to the increase in the bridge service period in Korea. Local corrosion problem of structural member can be occurred according to atmospheric corrosion environments based on the installation location of steel bridges. Especially, in case of the plate girder bridge, corrosion damage is concentrated on the web panel and stiffener at girder end. An asymmetrical shear resistant web section in the plate girder bridge can be caused from the local corrosion of the web panel, because local corrosion is not symmetrically occurred to the bridge. In this study, therefore, the shear buckling strength and behavior of a plate girder with asymmetrically corroded web panel was numerically evaluated using FE analysis, which was considering an aspect ratio and corrosion damage level of web panel. The shear buckling strength reduction of an asymmetrical shear resistant web panel was compared and evaluated according to corroded volume ratio for a web panel and for diagonal tension field of a web panel.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.70-76
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• 2013

The objective of the paper is to present the results of analytical and experimental studies dealing with dynamic load for continuous steel girder bridges due to normal truck traffic. Various bridge design codes specify dynamic load factor (defined as a fraction of static portion of live load) for short span structures at the level of about 0.3. However, there are not definite values specified for continuous brigdes. Therefore, it is an usual practice to use the code specified dynamic load factors for simple span bridges to continuous bridges without clear background. The field measurement results indicate that the actual dynamic load factors are less than 0.2 for a single truck, and less than 0.05 for two trucks side-by-side, regardless of positive and negative moment region.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.109-120
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• 2007

In this study, a bridge maintenance system is developed to generate performance-based optimum maintenance strategy by considering the life-cycle cost. A multi-objective combinatorial optimization problem is formulated to generate a tradeoff maintenance scenarios which satisfies the balance among the conflicting objectives such as the performance and cost during the bridge lifetime and a genetic algorithm is applied to the system. By using the developed program, this study proposes a process of optimum maintenance scenario applying to the steel girder bridge of national road. The developed system improves the current methods of establishing the bridge maintenance strategy and can be utilized as an efficient tool to provide the optimum bridge maintenance scenario corresponding to the various constraints and requirements of bridge agency.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.151-160
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• 2005

Current bridge design codes do not clearly specify the girder distribution factors for continuous bridges. The objective of the paper is to validate the use of code-specified girder distribution factors for the continuous steel girder bridges, and to provide a basis for recommended girder distribution factors (GDF) for interior girders, suitable for evaluation of existing continuous steel girder bridges. This paper presents the procedure and results of 3-dimensional finite element analysis that were performed on five of continuous steel girder bridges to verify girder distribution factors. The analysis results showed that the live load moment distribution at the negative moment region is very similar to those at the positive moment region in continuous steel girder bridges. It was also found that the GDF's based on the strain values are similar to those based on the deflection. GDF's based on the deflection show marginally better distribution. The analysis results confirmed that the code specified GDF's for continuous steel girder birdges are very conservative.

• Journal of Applied Reliability
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.241-252
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• 2013

Because of financial and safety concerns, there are needs for more accurate prediction of bridge behavior. Underestimation of the bridge load carrying capacity can have serious economic consequences, as deficient bridges must be repaired or rehabilitated. Therefore, the knowledge of the actual bridge behavior under live load may lead to a more realistic calculation of the load carrying capacity and eventually this may allow for more bridges to remain in service with or without minor repairs. The presented research is focused on the reliability evaluation of the actual load carrying capacity of existing bridges based on the field testing. Seventeen existing bridges were tested under truck load to confirm their adequacy of reliability. The actual response of existing bridge structures under live load is measured. Reliability analysis is performed on the selected representative bridges designed in accordance with AASHTO codes for bridge component (girder). Bridges are first evaluated based on the code specified values and design resistance. However, after the field testing program, it is possible to apply the experimental results into the bridge reliability evaluation procedures. Therefore, the actual response of bridge structures, including unintentional composite action, partial fixity of supports, and contribution of nonstructural members are considered in the bridge reliability evaluation. The girder distribution factors obtained from the tests are also applied in the reliability calculation. The results indicate that the reliability indices of selected bridges can be significantly increased by reducing uncertainties without sacrificing the safety of structures, by including the result of field measurement data into calculation.