• International journal of steel structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1617-1630
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• 2018

The crucial differences between conventional rail with split-type connectors and continuous welded rails are axial stress in the longitudinal direction and stability, as well as other issues generated under the influence of loading effects. Longitudinal stresses generated in continuously welded rails on railway bridges are strongly influenced by the nonlinear behavior of the supporting system comprising sleepers and ballasts. Thus, the track structure interaction cannot be neglected. The rail-support system mentioned above has properties of non-uniform material distribution and uncertainty of construction quality. The linear elastic hypothesis therefore cannot correctly evaluate the stress distribution within the rails. The aim of this study is to apply the nonlinear finite element method using the nonlinear coupling interface between the track and structural model and to illustrate the welded rail behavior under the loading effect and uncertain factors of the ballast. Numerical results of nonlinear finite analysis with a three-dimensional solid and frame element model are presented for a typical track-bridge system. A composite plate girder, modeled by solid and shell elements, is also analyzed to consider the behavior of the welded rail. The analysis result showed buckling under the independent calculations of load cases, including 'temperature change', 'bending of the supporting structure', and 'braking' of the railway vehicle. A parametric study of the load combination method and the loading sequence is also included in this analysis.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.249-258
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• 2012

Integral and rigid frame bridges have advantages in bridge maintenance and structural efficiency by eliminating expansion joints and bridge supports. However, the detail of typical girder-abutment connection is rather complex and increases construction cost depending on construction detail. For the purpose of compensating disadvantages such as complexity and additional cost, a new type of bridge is proposed in this study, which improves the efficiency of construction by simplifying the construction detail of girder-abutment connection. The proposed bridge has the connection detail of steel girder and abutment integrated by prestressed PS bar installed in the connection. In this study, finite element analysis and fatigue load test are conducted to evaluate the fatigue capacity of the proposed girder-abutment connection. The results of the finite element analysis revealed that the possibility of the fatigue damage in the girder-abutment connection is very low. The results of the fatigue load test verified that the integrity of the girder and abutment connection is maintained after 2,000,000 cycles of fatigue loading.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.423-431
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• 2013

The k-factor method has been widely used in design of steel-concrete composite bridges to determine indeterminate stresses. The accuracy of k-factor method is examined by a comparative analysis with the equivalent load method in a continuous 2-span composite bridge. To improve the accuracy, the direction of creep stress has to be modified and the variety of section must be considered. This paper suggests j-factor method which can improve the accuracy of k-factor method with simple modification.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.2 no.6
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• pp.429-440
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• 2002

A finite strip method is developed for fatigue reliability analysis of steel highway bridges. Flat shell strips are employed to model concrete slab and steel girders, while a connection strip is formed using penalty function method to take into account eccentricity of girder top flange. At each sampling point with given slab thickness and modulus ratio, a finite strip analysis of the bridge under fatigue truck is performed to calculate stress ranges at fatigue-prone detail, and fatigue failure probability is evaluated following the AASHTO approach or the LEFM approach. After the failure probability is integrated over all sampling points, fatigue reliability of the bridge is determined.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.10 no.4 s.37
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• pp.577-587
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• 1998

The influences of high speed train on the dynamic responses of steel composite railway bridges are investigated. The bridge system which has two I-girder and several cross beams is modeled with plate and frame elements. With assumption of concrete slabs are fully connected with steel girders, the offset between slabs and girders is modeled using constraint equation. The track system is modeled using beams on elastic foundation theory. And, the TGV train model is developed in 2-dimension considering bouncing and pitching motion. And braking action of vehicle is considered using speed dependent braking function. To investigate the behavior of bridges due to moving trains, parametric studies on the variation of natural frequency of bridge, speed parameter, vehicle modeling method, braking action of train, etc are performed.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.257-289
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• 2015

Shear connectors are generally used to link the slab and girders together in slab-on-girder bridge structures. Damage of shear connectors in such structures will result in shear slippage between the slab and girders, which significantly reduces the load-carrying capacity of the bridge. Because shear connectors are buried inside the structure, routine visual inspection is not able to detect conditions of shear connectors. A few methods have been proposed in the literature to detect the condition of shear connectors based on vibration measurements. This paper proposes a different dynamic condition assessment approach to identify the damage of shear connectors in slab-on-girder bridge structures based on power spectral density transmissibility (PSDT). PSDT formulates the relationship between the auto-spectral densities of two responses in the frequency domain. It can be used to identify shear connector conditions with or without reference data of the undamaged structure (or the baseline). Measured impact force and acceleration responses from hammer tests are analyzed to obtain the frequency response functions at sensor locations by experimental modal analysis. PSDT from the slab response to the girder response is derived with the obtained frequency response functions. PSDT vectors in the undamaged and damaged states can be compared to identify the damage of shear connectors. When the baseline is not available, as in most practical cases, PSDT vectors from the measured response at a reference sensor to those of the slab and girder in the damaged state can be used to detect the damage of shear connectors. Numerical and experimental studies on a concrete slab supported by two steel girders are conducted to investigate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed approach. Identification results demonstrate that damages of shear connectors are identified accurately and efficiently with and without the baseline. The proposed method is also used to evaluate the conditions of shear connectors in a real composite bridge with in-field testing data.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.125-146
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• 2006

Stonecutters Bridge of Hong Kong is a cable-stayed bridge with two single-column pylons each 298 m high and an aerodynamic twin deck. The total length of the bridge is 1596 m with a main span of 1018 m. The top 118 m of the tower will comprise structural steel and concrete composite while the bottom part will be of reinforced concrete. The bridge deck at the central span will be of steel whilst the side spans will be of concrete. Stonecutters Bridge has adopted a twin-girder deck design with a wide clear separation of 14.3 m between the two longitudinal girders. Although a number of studies have been conducted to investigate the aerodynamic performance of twin-girder deck, the actual real life application of this type of deck is extremely limited. This therefore triggered the need for conducting the present studies, the main objective of which is to investigate the performance of Stonecutters Bridge against flutter at its in-service stage as well as during construction. Based on the flutter derivatives obtained from the 1:80 scale rigid section model experiment, flutter analysis was carried out using 3-D finite element based single parameter searching method developed by the second author of this paper. A total of 6 finite element models of the bridge covering the in-service stage as well as 5 construction stages were established. The dynamic characteristics of the bridge associated with these stages were computed and applied in the analyses. Apart from the critical wind speeds for the onset of flutter, the dominant modes of vibration participating in the flutter vibration were also identified. The results indicate that the bridge will be stable against flutter at its in-service stage as well as during construction at wind speeds much higher than the verification wind speed of 95 m/s (1-minute mean).

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.217-225
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• 2010

Most of the steel bridges in Korea are being currently designed by the allowable stress design method that uses the conventional deterministic factors of safety. However the limit state design based on the concept of probability, statistics and reliability engineering is becoming very popular as a global standard deign method, leading the rational and economic bridge design. As part of the fundamental research to establish the load and resistance factor design(LRFD) of steel bridges considering domestic environmental conditions and regional characteristics, an experimental design is conducted by applying AASHTO-LRFD specification especially to a steel closed-box girder, which occupies relatively a large portion of steel bridges in Korea. Throughout the experimental design according to various sectional changes, some of the issues to be considered in the LRFD design of a composite steel closed-box girder bridge are examined. In this process, an Excel-based design verification program is developed for easy computation and prevention of errors. Quantitative reliability levels of the bridge sections designed by LRFD are also estimated using a reliability analysis method, and compared with the target reliability indexes applied in the LRFD design to verify the validity of the procedure and methodology used in this study.

• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.633-642
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• 2006

Serviceability design is required to control the cracking at the joint of precast decks with longitudinal prestress in continuous composite bridges. Details of twin-girder bridges are especially complex not only due to their main reinforcements and transverse prestresses for the design of long-span concrete slabs, but also due to the shear pockets for obtaining the composite action. This paper suggests the design guidelines for the magnitude of the effective prestress and for the selection of filling materials and their requirements that would allow for the use of precast decks for twin-girder continuous composite bridges. The necessary initial prestress was also evaluated through long-term behavior analysis. From the analysis, existing design examples were revised and their effectiveness was estimated. When a filling material with a bonding strength higher than the requirement is used in the region of a high negative moment, a uniform configuration of the longitudinal prestressing steels along thewhole span length of continuous composite bridges can be achieved, which would result in the simplification of the details and the reduction of the construction costs.

• Composites Research
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.29-33
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• 2011

The application of high performance materials for the deck can represent a fair alternative to reduce the weight of the deck and improve the econimic efficiency of the bridge even if high performance materials are costly. In UHPC(Ultra High Performance Concrete) bridges, it is necessary to verify that exiting headed stud can be used to transfer longitudinal shear forces across the steel-concrete interface. In this paper, the push-out tests are performed to analisys the composite behavior between UHPC bridge deck and steel girder. The ultimate strength of test specimens is proportional to the diameter of headed studs in push-out test for static loading. Test results show that the shear strength of headed stud is improved for the case of normal concrete bridge decks.