Deck shear-lag in symmetric concrete bridge girders

摘要

This paper presents an approximate solution in a closed form to predict shear-lag across the deck slab of symmetric concrete bridge girders. The method proposed here requires bending moment and shear force at any girder location of interest determined by a line-beam analysis. Also appropriate girder geometric & material properties, prestress details etc are required as inputs. Predicted deck axial stress distribution is verified against results from finite element analysis done by URS Australia for the Westgate Bridge deck-strengthening project, Melbourne. This approach written in spreadsheet could be conveniently used by design engineers.