Effective flange width evaluation for prestressed concrete bulb-tee girder bridges

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effective flange width (beff) in prestressed concrete slab on girder bridges based on the method developed by Chiewanichakorn et al. (2004) for steel concrete composite bridges. The concept of effective flange width is very important for a simplified structural analysis, especially for computing stresses and displacements. Therefore, the accuracy of effective flange width has a major impact on the design of structural components.; In this thesis, two effective flange width definitions were employed for prestressed concrete bulb-tee girder bridges as developed by Chiewanichakorn et al. (2004) based on a force and moment equilibrium approach for positive and negative moment sections. The effective flange width was evaluated for interior girders for the serviceability limit state.; A finite element modeling scheme and parametric study was developed and implemented, as required to apply the effective width definitions. All FEM analyses were conducted using a general purpose finite element analysis software package (ABAQUS). Effective flange widths were extracted for both positive and negative moment regions from Finite Element Models for the bridge parameters considered: span length, girder spacing, and skew angle. An Impact study, using rating factor from The Load and Resistance Factor Rating (LRFR) method, was performed to evaluate the impact of effective width criteria being considered by AASHTO .