Beam & Shell Models for Composite Straight or Curved Bridge Decks with Intermediate Diaphragms & Assessment of Design Specifications

In this research effort, the generalized warping and distortional problem of straight or horizontally curved composite beams of arbitrary cross section, loading and boundary conditions is presented. An inclined plane of curvature is considered. Additionally, the stiffness of diaphragmatic plates has been introduced in the formulation in order to compare with the case where rigid diaphragms are assumed. Isogeometric tools (NURBS) are employed in order to obtain the results for the 1D formulation and 3D shell models are developed in FEM commercial software for composite cross sections with diaphragms. The number of intermediate diaphragms according to bridges design specifications is compared to the analyzed diaphragmatic arrangements in order to assess the overall structural behavior of bridges decks. For this purpose, examples of curved beam models with open or closed cross sections and various arrangements of diaphragms have been studied.