Reliability-based design of prestressed concrete girders in integral Abutment Bridges for thermal effects

Reliability-based design limit states and associated partial load factors provide a consistent level of design safety across bridge types and members. However, limit states in the current AASHTO LRFD have not been developed explicitly for the situation encountered by integral abutment bridges (IABs) that have unique boundary conditions and loads with inherent uncertainties. Therefore, new reliability-based limit states for IABs considering the variability of the abutment support conditions and thermal loading must be developed to achieve IAB designs that achieve the same safety level as other bridge designs. Prestressed concrete girder bridges are considered in this study and are subjected to concrete time-dependent effects (creep and shrinkage), backfill pressure, temperature fluctuation and temperature gradient. Based on the previously established database for bridge loads and resistances, reliability analyses are performed. The IAB limit states proposed herein are intended to supplement current AASHTO LRFD limit states as specified in AASHTO LRFD Table 3.4.1-1.