Mechanics Behavior And Design About Buried Corrugated Steel Arch Bridge

Buried corrugated steel arch bridges have been successfully used as a cheap alternative to the conventional steel or reinforced/pre-stressed concrete bridges. A considerable number of these structures are spread all over the word. This kind of bridge design method depends on foreign code in our country. But most of currently used procedures neglect or approximate the soil-structure interaction. Therefore, it is of great importance that the mechanics behavior and design about buried corrugated structure should be studied.In this study, two kinds of finite element model of a Buried corrugated steel arch bridge being designed in Inner Mongolia are performed. Oen is tow-dimensional finite element model with equivalent stiffness. The other oen is three-dimensional element with the real shape of the bridge. The soil covers is considered in two methods, performing solid element and regarding it as pressure. The finite element analyses results are compared to the published theoretical and experimental results and the structure is checked.The study shows that the results of equivalent stiffness model are accurate enough for design. The results of three-dimensional finite element model for the deformation shape compare well with the experimentally measured one, and it can be used as design and check for safety. On the other hand, the model with solid element performing soil considers the soil-structure interaction but results in a result showing less agreement with model 1 which may be due to the sensitivity of the bending moments to the accurate modeling of the properties of the soil material. So, it is necessary to research the soil material and the contact between soil and structure further more.