Web plumb influence on skewed I-girder,steel bridges during construction

Abstract

At different stages during the construction of steel, I-girder bridges having severely skewed abutments, differential deflections between adjacent and interconnected girders cause rotations and deflections out of plane. These deformations are more pronounced during deck placement when appreciable additional dead load is added to the bridge and the girders are non-composite. As a result, girder webs can end up out of plumb at the completion of construction, especially at the supports. Although it is commonly desired by bridge designers and contractors to alleviate this out of plumbness via different erection and detailing strategies, out of plumbness effects on skewed bridge response at the completion of construction are not completely understood. The present research employs finite element analysis to study effects that different detailing methods have on girder stresses, vertical and lateral deformations, and cross-frame forces for single-span bridges with varying skew angles.