Experimental and finite element parametric investigations of the thermal behavior of CBGB

摘要

This research deals with the behavior of Composite Box Girder Bridges (CBGBs) subjected to environmental effects such as solar radiation, atmospheric temperature, and wind speed. It is based on temperature and thermal stress results, which were recorded hourly from a full-scale experimental CBGB segment and Finite Element (FE) thermal analysis. The Hemi-cube method was adopted to achieve the accuracy in temperature distributions and variations in a composition system during the daily environmental variations. Analytical findings were compared with the experimental measurements, and a good agreement was found. On the other hand, parametric investigations are carried out to investigate the effect of the cross-section geometry and orientation of the longitudinal axis of CBGB on the thermal response and stress distributions. Based upon individual parametric investigations, some remarks related to the thermal loading parameters were submitted. Additionally, some observations about the CBGB configurations were identified, which must be taken into account in the design process. Finally, this research indicates that the design temperature distribution with a uniform differential between the concrete slab and the steel girder is inappropriate for describing the thermal impacts in design objective.