Development of a Simplified Procedure to Predict Dead Load Deflections of Skewed and Non-Skewed Steel Plate Girder Bridges

摘要

Many of todays steel bridges are being constructed with longer spans and higher skew. The bridges are often erected in stages to limit traffic interruptions or to minimize environmental impacts. The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has experienced numerous problems matching the final deck elevations between adjacent construction stages due to inaccuracies in predicting the dead load deflections of steel plate girder bridges. In response to these problems, the NCDOT has funded this research project (Project No. 2004-14 - Developing a Simplified Method for Predicting Deflection in Steel Plate Girders Under Non-composite Dead Load for Stage-constructed Bridges). The primary objective of this research was to develop a simplified procedure to predict the dead load deflection of skewed and non-skewed steel plate girder bridges. In developing the simplified procedure, ten steel plate girder bridges were monitored during placement of the concrete deck to observe the deflection of the girders.