Nulukkizdin
Structural
All,
Looking into the design of a curved steel girder bridge. I'm trying to figure out the best way to deal with the fixity at either end of the span. For gravity loads, it would make sense to provide rotational fixity such that the midspan of the bridge does not "fall off" and rotate down toward equilibrium. When looking at thermal loads, however, common bridge practice would be to allow translational movement at one end of the span.
How do folks typically deal with this scenario? I know we (not I specifically) see curved highway bridges all the time, but I'm not seeing any examples that address this issue at the bearing ends. Is it safe to assume that any thermal translation will be along the tangent of the curve at the bearing pad? If so, can we achieve the required fixity (for vertical loads) while achieving the translational freedom by simply slotting bolts holes along the tangent of the curve?
Thanks in advance, any help is appreciated!
Looking into the design of a curved steel girder bridge. I'm trying to figure out the best way to deal with the fixity at either end of the span. For gravity loads, it would make sense to provide rotational fixity such that the midspan of the bridge does not "fall off" and rotate down toward equilibrium. When looking at thermal loads, however, common bridge practice would be to allow translational movement at one end of the span.
How do folks typically deal with this scenario? I know we (not I specifically) see curved highway bridges all the time, but I'm not seeing any examples that address this issue at the bearing ends. Is it safe to assume that any thermal translation will be along the tangent of the curve at the bearing pad? If so, can we achieve the required fixity (for vertical loads) while achieving the translational freedom by simply slotting bolts holes along the tangent of the curve?
Thanks in advance, any help is appreciated!