Stress-Strain Field and Theoretical Analysis of RC Bridge

In this paper, a reinforced concrete(RC) bridge built in an interchange, in the city of Kerman (a city located in south of Iran) is examined by the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) system. During the construction of this bridge such as; the main beams, slab, and retaining walls, some Electrical Strain Gauges were mounted on the main reinforcements at different locations within the body of this bridge. After the completion, the bridge was loaded with different load arrangements and the strain readings were collected by a powerful Data Logger for field analysis. The considered loading cases were, 1) twelve trucks carrying sand with an average weight of 28t each, the trucks were lined up in regular pattern and also in a certain preprogrammed arrangement, 2) the daily traffic loads, the bridge behavior was examined and data were recorded during the peak points of the daily traffic, 3) the bridge weight, to find this, the traffic was not allowed to pass over the bridge for a few days, in order to record the bridges’ behavior under its own weight. All loadings and unloading cases were recorded for field analysis. The theoretical analysis of the bridge was performed according to the classical method. To achieve the best findings, also the Finite Element program- ANSYS -was used, for all loading cases. This program is able to model concrete reinforcement by its own library elements. Concrete could also be studied as a nonlinear element. Finally, the field analysis and theoretical findings were compared and the results are presented.