• International Journal of Concrete Structures and Materials
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.183-191
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• 2013

Prestress losses assumed for bridge girder design and deflection analyses are dependent on the concrete modulus of elasticity (MOE). Most design specifications, such as the American Association of State Highways and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) bridge specifications, contain a constant value for the MOE based on the unit weight of concrete and the concrete compressive strength at 28 days. It has been shown in the past that that the concrete MOE varies with the age of concrete. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a time-dependent and variable MOE on the prestress losses assumed for bridge girder design. For this purpose, three different variable MOE models from the literature were investigated: Dischinger (Der Bauingenieur 47/48(20):563-572, 1939a; Der Bauingenieur 5/6(20):53-63, 1939b; Der Bauingenieur, 21/22(20):286-437, 1939c), American Concrete Institute (ACI) 209 (Tech. Rep. ACI 209R-92, 1992) and CEB-FIP (CEB-FIP Model Code, 2010). A typical bridge layout for the Dallas, Texas, USA, area was assumed herein. A prestressed concrete beam design and analysis program from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) was utilized to determine the prestress losses. The values of the time dependent MOE and also specific prestress losses from each model were compared. The MOE predictions based on the ACI and the CEB-FIP models were close to each other; in long-term, they approach the constant AASHTO value. Dischinger's model provides for higher MOE values. The elastic shortening and the long term losses from the variable MOE models are lower than that using a constant MOE up to deck casting time. In long term, the variable MOE-based losses approach that from the constant MOE predictions. The Dischinger model would result in more conservative girder design while the ACI and the CEB-FIP models would result in designs more consistent with the AASHTO approach.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.77 no.5
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• pp.601-612
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• 2021

To study the vibration characteristics of a high-speed railway continuous girder bridge-track coupling system (HSRCBT), a coupling vibration analysis model of an m-span continuous girder bridge-subgrade-track system with n-span approach bridge was established. The model was based on the energy and its variational method, where both the interlaminar slip and shear deformation effects were considered. In addition, the free vibration equations and natural boundary conditions of the HSRCBT were derived. Further, according to the coordination principle of deformation and mechanics, an analytical method for calculating the natural vibration frequencies of the HSRCBT was obtained. Three typical bridge-subgrade-track coupling systems of high-speed railway were taken and the results of finite element analysis were compared to those of the analytical method. The errors between the simulation results and calculated values of the analytical method were less than 3%, thus verifying the analytical method proposed in this paper. Finally, the analytical method was used to investigate the influence of the number of the approach bridge spans and the interlaminar stiffness on the natural vibration characteristics of the HSRCBT based on the degree of sensitivity. The results suggest the approach bridges have a critical number of spans and in general, the precision requirements of the analysis could be met by using 6-span approach bridges. The interlaminar vertical compressive stiffness has very little influence on the low-order natural vibration frequency of HSRCBT, but does have a significant influence on higher-order natural vibration frequency. As the interlaminar vertical compressive stiffness increases, the degree of sensitivity to interlaminar stiffness of each of the HSRCBT natural vibration characteristics decrease and gradually approach zero.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.2A
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• pp.223-231
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• 2008

This research presents a new maintenance planning method for deteriorating bridges considering simultaneously the minimization of the maintenance cost and maximization of the bridge performance. Optimal maintenance planning is formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem that treats the maintenance cost as well as the bridge performance such as the condition grade of the bridge deck, girder and pier. To effectively address the multi-objective optimization problem and decision making process for the obtained solution set, we apply a genetic algorithm as a numerical searching technique and adopt a preference-based optimization method. A numerical example for a typical 5-span prestressed concrete girder bridge shows that the maintenance cost and the performance of the bridge can be balanced reasonably without severe trade-offs between each objectives.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.65-72
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• 2009

‘Korean Highway Bridge Design Code’ provides the spectrum analysis method with response modification factors for the seismic design of typical bridges. However, considering that korean peninsula is classified as moderate seismic regions and domestic circumstances for bridge design and construction are different from other countries, the applicability of this code is not yet proved. Therefore it is required to verify that applying the spectrum analysis method fulfills the no collapse requirement which is set forth as the basic seismic design concept. In this study two typical bridges with T and ${\prod}$ type piers are selected as analysis bridges and seismic designs are carried out by applying the spectrum analysis method with design conditions given for moderate seismic regions. Based on the results obtained through deign procedures, the role of the response modification factors and fulfillment of the no collapse requirement are discussed, from which supplementary provisions for the design code are identified.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.187-192
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• 2016

While structures are designed within elastic range by other designs, plastic behavior of structures should be verified and controlled in order to prevent structural collapse by the earthquake resistant design. No Collapse Requirement for typical bridges is to avoid falling down of superstructure by way of plastic behavior of certain structural elements and to operate emergency vehicles after earthquake. Such plastic behavior is restricted to connections or pier columns and appropriate measures are required for each case. Earthquake Resistant Design part of Roadway Bridge Design Code provides design processes for Ductile Collapse Mechanism by forming plastic hinges at pier columns. Also for bridges with reinforced concrete piers ductility-based design processes are provided as an appendix constructing Brittle Collapse Mechanism with connection yielding. In this study, a typical bridge with steel bearing connections and reinforced concrete piers is selected and No Collapse Design procedure considering both Ductile and Brittle Collapse Mechanism is proposed together with revisions required for the Earthquake Resistant Design part.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.323-336
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• 2022

Steel truss bridge is one of the most widely used bridge types in Indonesia. Out of all Indonesia's national roads, the number of steel truss bridges reaches 12% of the total 17,160 bridges. The application of steel truss bridges is relatively high considering this type of bridge provides advantages in the standardization of design and fabrication of structural elements for typical bridge spans, as well as ease of mobilization. Directorate of Road and Bridge Engineering, Ministry of Works and Housing, has issued a standard design for steel truss bridges commonly used in Indonesia, which is designed against the design load in SNI 1725-2016 Bridge Loading Standards. Along with the development of actual traffic load measurement technology using Bridge Weigh-in-Motion (B-WIM), traffic loading data can be utilized to evaluate the reliability of standard bridges, such as standard steel truss bridges which are commonly used in Indonesia. The result of the B-WIM measurement on the Central Java Pantura National Road, Batang - Kendal undertaken in 2018, which supports the heaviest load and traffic conditions on the national road, is used in this study. In this study, simulation of a sequences of traffic was carried out based on B-WIM data as a moving load on the Australian type Steel Truss Bridge (i.e., Rangka Baja Australia -RBA) structure model with 60 m class A span. The reliability evaluation was then carried out by calculating the reliability index or the probability of structural failure. Based on the analysis conducted in this study, it was found that the reliability index of the 60 m class Aspan for RBA bridge is 3.04 or the probability of structural failure is 1.18 × 10^-3, which describes the level of reliability of the RBA bridge structure due to the loads from B-WIM measurement in Indonesia. For this RBA Bridge 60 m span class A, it was found that the calibrated nominal live load that met the target reliability is increased by 13% than stated in the code, so the uniform distributed load will be 7.60 kN/m² and the axle line equivalent load will be 55.15 kN/m.

• 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.

• KIEE International Transaction on Electrical Machinery and Energy Conversion Systems
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• v.5B no.4
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• pp.366-373
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• 2005

This paper presents two new circuit topologies of the dc busline side active resonant snubber assisted voltage source high frequency link soft switching PWM full-bridge dc-dc power converters acceptable for either utility ac 200V-rms or ac 400V-rms input grid. These high frequency switching dc-dc converters proposed in this paper are composed of a typical voltage source-fed full-bridge PWM inverter, high frequency transformer with center tap, high frequency diode rectifier with inductor input filter and dc busline side series switches with the aid of a dc busline parallel capacitive lossless snubber. All the active switches in the full-bridge arms as well as dc busline snubber can achieve ZCS turn-on and ZVS turn-off transition commutation with the aid of a transformer leakage inductive component and consequently the total switching power losses can be effectively reduced. So that, a high switching frequency operation of IGBTs in the voltage source full bridge inverter can be actually designed more than about 20 kHz. It is confirmed that the more the switching frequency of full-bridge soft switching inverter increases, the more soft switching PWM dc-dc converter with a high frequency transformer link has remarkable advantages for its power conversion efficiency and power density implementations as compared with the conventional hard switching PWM inverter type dc-dc power converter. The effectiveness of these new dc-dc power converter topologies can be proved to be more suitable for low voltage and large current dc-dc power supply as arc welding equipment from a practical point of view.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.647-655
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• 2016

The construction of high speed railways and improvement projects of for conventional railways require straight railway lines of railway, which leads to an increase of bridge and tunnel construction. Transition zones in railways means that the track support stiffness is variedvaries in over short ranges. Sspecial attention is required in theose transition zones since because instability of train running in train and irregularities of track irregularities are can frequently occurred. Typical transition zones are between bridges and earthworks and between tunnels and earthworks. On In a transition zone, a bridge abutment transition zone has many problems in with various causes. In this paper, fundamental problems of bridge abutment transition zones is are analyzed to enhance the understanding about of bridge abutment transition zones. Suggestions for improving problems in the transition zones are proposed.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.669-681
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• 2019

Bridge collapses may deliver a huge impact on our society in a very negative way. Out of many reasons why bridges collapse, poor maintenance is becoming a main contributing factor to many recent collapses. Furthermore, the aging of bridges is able to make the situation much worse. In order to prevent this unwanted event, it is indispensable to conduct continuous bridge monitoring and timely maintenance. Visual inspection is the most widely used method, but it is heavily dependent on the experience of the inspectors. It is also time-consuming, labor-intensive, costly, disruptive, and even unsafe for the inspectors. In order to address its limitations, in recent years increasing interests have been paid to the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which is expected to make the inspection process safer, faster and more cost-effective. In addition, it can cover the area where it is too hard to reach by inspectors. However, this strategy is still in a primitive stage because there are many things to be addressed for real implementation. In this paper, a typical procedure of bridge inspection using UAVs consisting of three phases (i.e., pre-inspection, inspection, and post-inspection phases) and the detailed tasks by phase are described. Also, three major challenges, which are related to a UAV's flight, image data acquisition, and damage identification, respectively, are identified from a practical perspective (e.g., localization of a UAV under the bridge, high-quality image capture, etc.) and their possible solutions are discussed by examining recently developed or currently developing techniques such as the graph-based localization algorithm, and the image quality assessment and enhancement strategy. In particular, deep learning based algorithms such as R-CNN and Mask R-CNN for classifying, localizing and quantifying several damage types (e.g., cracks, corrosion, spalling, efflorescence, etc.) in an automatic manner are discussed. This strategy is based on a huge amount of image data obtained from unmanned inspection equipment consisting of the UAV and imaging devices (vision and IR cameras).