• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.51-69
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• 2023

In tied-arch bridges, a properly designed connection between the arch and the deck may become crucial, since the forces in the structure may be significantly reduced. This implies substantial material savings and, consequently, cheaper constructions. The introduction of the Nielsen cable arrangement (composed of V-shaped inclined hangers) in the last century was a milestone because it was able to reduce deflections and bending moments both in the arch and in the deck. So far, the Nielsen cable arrangement has proven to be successful in traditional vertical arch bridges. However, despite its advantages, it has not been widely applied to spatial arch bridges. Thus, this article analyses the difference between the structural behavior of spatial arch bridges with Nielsen-type cable arrangements with respect to those with classical vertical hanger configurations. The main goal is to verify whether the known effectiveness of the Nielsen cable arrangement for classical arch bridges is still preserved when applied to spatial arch bridges. In order to achieve this objective, and as the first part of our study, a set of different all-steel bridges composed of vertical and inclined arches with straight decks have been compared for both cable arrangements. As a major conclusion, for planar vertical arch bridges, the Nielsen-type cable arrangement is always the most effective. In addition, it also seems that, for spatial arch bridges composed of a straight deck and an inclined arch, it still keeps most of its effectiveness as long as the arch is moderately inclined.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.703-722
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• 2013

In this paper a study about concrete arch bridges built by lattice cantilevers is presented. Lattice cantilevers are partial structures composed of deck, arch, piers and provisional steel diagonals, organized as reticular cantilever girders, in order to build arch bridges without the use of centrings, supports or temporary towers. Characteristics of this construction methodology with its variants are explained together with their implications in the erection sequence. Partial elastic scheme method is implemented in order to find initial forces of temporary cables and a forward analysis is carried out to follow the actual sequence of construction, by extending a procedure already applied to concrete cable-stayed bridges and to arches built by the classical suspended cantilever method. A numerical application on a case-study of a concrete arch bridge is performed together with a comparison between different methodologies followed for its construction sequence. Differences between erection by lattice cantilevers and cable-stayed cantilevers, are discussed. Results can be useful for designers in conceptual design of concrete arch bridges.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.257-271
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• 2017

There are many plain concrete arch bridges in Iran that have been used as railway bridges for more than seventy years. Owe to the fact that these bridges have not been designed seismically, and even may be loaded under high-speed trains, evaluation of fundamental frequencies of the bridges against earthquake and high-speed train vibrations is necessary for considering dynamics effects. To evaluate complex behavior of these bridges, results of field tests are useful. Since it is not possible to perform field tests for all arch bridges, these structures should be simulated correctly by computers for structural assessment. Several parameters are employed to describe the bridges, such as number of spans, length of spans, geometrical and material properties. In this study, results of field tests are used for modal analysis and adapted for 64 three dimensional finite element models with various physical parameters. Computer simulations show length of spans has important effect on fundamental frequencies of plain concrete arch bridge and modal deformations of bridges is in longitudinal and transverse directions. Also, these results demonstrate that fundamental frequencies of bridges decrease after increasing span length and number of spans. Plus, some relations based in the number of spans (n) and span length (l) are proposed for calculation of fundamental frequencies of plain concrete arch bridge.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.1069-1089
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• 2015

Arch bridges consist of some important components for structural behavior such as arches, sidewalls, filling materials and foundations. But, arches are the most important part for this type of bridges. For this reason, investigation of arch is come into prominence. In this paper, it is aimed to investigate the arch thickness effect on the structural behavior of masonry arch bridges. For this purpose, Goderni historical arch bridge which was located in Kulp town, Diyarbakir, Turkey and the bridge restoration process has still continued is selected as an application. The construction year of the bridge is not fully known, but the date is estimated to be the second half of the 19th century. The bridge has two arches with the 0.52 cm and 0.69 cm arch thickness, respectively. Finite element model of the bridge is constructed with ANSYS software to reflect the current situation using relievo drawings. Then the arch thickness is changed by increasing and decreasing respectively and finite element models are reconstructed. The structural responses of the bridge are obtained for all arch thickness under dead load and live load. Maximum displacements, maximum-minimum principal stresses and maximum-minimum elastic strains are given with detail using contours diagrams and compared with each other to determine the arch thickness effect. At the end of the study, it is seen that the maximum displacements, tensile stresses and strains have a decreasing trend, but compressive stress and strain have an increasing trend by the increasing of arch thickness.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.639-650
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• 2007

Applying the method calculating creep of Concrete Filled steel Tube (CFT) members based on the Elastic Continuation and Plastic Flow theory for concrete creep with the finite element method, the paper develops a new numerical method for the creep of CFT arch bridges considering effects of bending moment. It is shown that the method is feasible and reasonable through comparing the predicted stresses and deflection caused by the creep with the results obtained by the method of Gu et al. (2001) based on ACI209R model and experimental data of an actual CFT arch bridge. Furthermore, nine CFT arch bridges with different types are calculated and analyzed with and without the effects of bending moment. As a result, the bending moment has considerable influences on long-term deformations and internal forces of CFT arch bridges, especially when the section of arch rib is subjected to a large bending moment.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.125-130
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• 2003

The aim of this paper is to investigate the dynamic characteristics of ancient stone bridges in Korea and to find the factors influencing their natural frequencies. For this end, on-site free vibration tests were performed for 18 stone arch bridges and one ancient ice storage composed of 4 arches. Test results revealed that the vertical fundamental frequencies were in the range of 10Hz to 45Hz. The damping ratios estimated from the records of free vibration tests showed a wide variety of values, that is, from 0.02 to 0.134. It has been known that the natural frequencies of stone arch bridges are mainly governed by their arch spans. Test results reveal that the presence of spandrel walls and the use of mortar for joints are also important factors influencing the natural frequencies of stone arch bridges.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.57-70
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• 2024

Masonry arch bridges as a vital infrastructure were not designed for seismic loads. Given that masonry arch bridges are made up of various components, their contribution under the seismic actions can be very undetermined and each of these structural components can play a different role in energy dissipation. Iran is known as a high-risk area in terms of seismic excitations and according to the seismic hazard zoning classification of Iran, most of these railway infrastructures are placed in the high and very high seismicity zones or constructed near the major faults. Besides, these ageing structures are deteriorated and thus in recent years, some of these bridges using various retrofitting approaches, including sprayed concrete technique are strengthened. Therefore, investigating the behavior of these restored structures with new characteristics is very significant. The aim of this study is to investigate the cyclic in-plane performance of masonry arch bridges retrofitted by sprayed concrete technique through the finite element simulation. So, by considering the fill-arch interaction, the nonlinear behavior of a bridge has been investigated. Finally, by extracting the hysteresis and enveloping curves of the retrofitted and non-retrofitted bridge, the effect of strengthening on energy absorption and degradation of material has been investigated.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.137-150
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• 2017

This paper focuses on the post-earthquake serviceability of steel arch bridges installed with three types of seismic dampers suffered mainshock-aftershock sequences. Two post-earthquake serviceability verification methods for the steel arch bridges are compared. The energy-absorbing properties of three types of seismic dampers, including the buckling restrained brace, the shear panel damper and the shape memory alloy damper, are investigated under major earthquakes. Repeated earthquakes are applied to the steel arch bridges to examine the influence of the aftershocks to the structures with and without dampers. The relative displacement is proposed for the horizontal transverse components in such complicated structures. Results indicate that the strain-based verification method is more conservative than the displacement-base verification method in evaluating the post-earthquake serviceability of structures and the seismic performance of the retrofitted structure is significantly improved.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.83-96
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• 2020

The main structural elements of historical masonry arch bridges are arches, spandrel walls, piers and foundations. The most vulnerable structural elements of masonry arch bridges under transverse seismic loads, particularly in the case of out-of-plane actions, are spandrel wall. The vulnerability of spandrel walls under transverse loads increases with the increasing of their length and height. This paper computationally investigates the out-of-plane nonlinear seismic response of spandrel walls of long-span and high masonry stone arch bridges. The Malabadi Bridge with a main arch span of 40.86m and rise of 23.45m built in 1147 in Diyarbakır, Turkey, is selected as an example. The Concrete Damage Plasticity (CDP) material model adjusted to masonry structures, and cohesive interface interaction between the infill and the spandrel walls and the arch are considered in the 3D finite element model of the selected bridge. Firstly, mode shapes with and without cohesive interfaces are evaluated, and then out-of-plane seismic failure responses of the spandrel walls with and without the cohesive interfaces are determined and compared with respect to the displacements, strains and stresses.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.161-168
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• 2010

Recently, bridges have been momenttous as not only regarding function but also concerning aesthetics. However, when beauty is considered in the bridge, it is also essential that stability and economics be considered. Besides, when considering stability, an arch bridge is one of the most stable structures. The most important element is a rise ratio when regarding beauty and economics of arch bridges. The effect of dead load and DB24 load have been considered to decide proper rise ratio. Therefore, in this study, examined the value of moment, displacement and member forces, in the variation of the rise ratio of arch bridges. The most optimum shape of Nielsen arch bridges has determined by analyzing member forces, moments and displacement with parameters of rise ratio and angle of vertical members. By comparison between values, the hanger types have been also considered to derive the optimum shape of Nielsen arch bridge.