Computation of design forces and deflection in skew-curved box-girder bridges

The analysis of simply supported single-cell skew-curved reinforced concrete (RC) box-girder bridges is carried out using a finite element based CsiBridge software. The behaviour of skew-curved box-girder bridges can not be anticipated simply by superimposing the individual effects of skewness and curvature, so it becomes important to examine the behaviour of such bridges considering the combined effects of skewness and curvature. A comprehensive parametric study is performed wherein the combined influence of the skew and curve angles is considered to determine the maximum bending moment, maximum shear force, maximum torsional moment and maximum vertical deflection of the bridge girders. The skew angle is varied from 0o to 60o at an interval of 10o, and the curve angle is varied from 0o to 60o at an interval of 12o. The scantly available literature on such bridges focuses mainly on the analysis of skew-curved bridges under dead and point loads. But, the effects of actual loadings may be different, thus, it is considered in the present study. It is found that the performance of these bridges having more curvature can be improved by introducing the skewness. Finally, several equations are deduced in the non-dimensional form for estimating the forces and deflection in the girders of simply supported skew-curved RC box-girder bridges, based upon the results of the straight one. The developed equations may be helpful to the designers in proportioning, analysing, and designing such bridges, as the correlation coefficient is about 0.99.