P.

Sachithanantham , International Journal of Technology in Computer Science & Engineering,

Volume 2(2) , June 2015 , pp 165- 174
Available online at http://www.ijtcse.com

ISSN 2349-1582

Analysis of Folded Plate Box Girder Bridges Using Ansys

P.Sachithanantham 1 , D.Ebenezar Anburaj2,
Asst.Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering , Bharath University, Chennai, India1
PG Scholar, Dept. of Civil Engineering , Bharath University, Chennai, India 2

.
AbstractBecause of effective scattering of congested movement, financial contemplations, and stylish
attractive quality on a level plane bended steel box brace scaffolds have gotten to be progressively mainstream these days
in present day expressway frameworks, including urban exchanges. Albeit huge examination has been in progress on
cutting edge investigation for a long time to better comprehend the conduct of a wide range of box-support spans, be that
as it may, the consequences of these different exploration works are scattered and unevaluated. Subsequently, an
unmistakable comprehension of later deal with straight and bended box-support extensions is profoundly craved. The
non-composite steel segment must backing both the crisp cement and the whole development stacks henceforth steel box
supports are at their basic stage amid development. In this study, non composite straight and bended steel boxes are
dissected with pillar and shell components utilizing the three dimensional limited component examination and their
conduct is researched.
This paper addresses examination utilizing pillar and shell component models of the straight and bended box
brace span. This undertaking includes analyzing the anxiety examples acquired utilizing static three-dimensional limited
component demonstrating. Examinations are made between anxieties got for the straight and bended box brace spans,
from the pillar component model and shell component model for each. At last, the parametric examinations are performed
on the bended steel box model to assess the impacts of a few critical parameters on the conduct of the support.
Keywords box girder, finite element method, Ansys, stress.

1. INTRODUCTION
Box girders, have gained wide acceptance in freeway and bridge systems due to their structural efficiency,
better stability, serviceability, economy of construction and pleasing aesthetics. Analysis and design of boxgirder bridges are very complex because of its three dimensional behaviors consisting of torsion, distortion
and bending in longitudinal and transverse directions. The longitudinal bending stress distribution in wide
flange girders is distributed non-uniformly throughout the width. It remains maximum at the edge and
reduces towards the centre, and usually cannot be obtained accurately from elementary beam theory.
1.1 Box girder and I-beam girder
There are basically two types of steel cross sections currently being in used for curved alignment: an open
section consisting of a number of I-shaped cross sections braced with a heavy transverse bracing system and
the other type of section is a closed section consisting of few box girders. Compared to I-beam girders, box
girders have a number of key advantages and disadvantages.
Steel box girders that serve to transfer loads directly from the concrete deck to the abutments and piers have
emerged as the most common application in North America today (Canadian Institute of Steel Construction
(CISC) workshop. 2001). Box girder cross sections may take the form of single cell (one box), multi-spline
(separate boxes) or multi-cell with a common bottom flange. Box girders offer better resistance to torsion,
which is particularly of benefit if the bridge deck is curved in plan.
Due to the high torsional stiffness of the closed cross section of the box girders, which often ranges from 100
to 1000 times larger than the torsional stiffness of comparable I-shaped sections, the torsional moment

P. Sachithanantham , International Journal of Technology in Computer Science & Engineering,

Volume 2(2) , June 2015 , pp 165- 174
Available online at http://www.ijtcse.com

ISSN 2349-1582

induced by the curvature of the girder can be resisted by the box girder with much less transverse bracing
than the I-shaped girders. The fabrication of the box girder is more expensive compared to the I-shaped
girder, but this additional cost is usually balanced by the reduction in sub structuring for the box girder.

1.2 Construction of Steel Box girders

The steel box girder may be defined as a longitudinal structural member with four steel plates, two webs and
two flanges, arranged to form a closed box section as shown in Figure 1(a). However, in modem highway
structures, a more common arrangement is the box girder with open top which is usually referred to as the tub
girder. In this case, two steel webs with narrow top flanges similar to those of the plate girders are joined at
their bottoms by a full-width bottom flange as shown in Figure 1(b).

Figure 1: Steel box girders: (a) Enclosed box girder; (b) Tub girder with lateral bracing
At fabrication and erection stages, the section may be completely open at the top or it may be braced by a top
lateral bracing system to the top flanges. Composite box girder bridge systems may take the form of single
box, multi-box also called twin-box or multi cellular box (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Steel/concrete composite box girders: (a) Single box; (b) Multi-box (twin-box);
(c) Multi-cellular box

P. Sachithanantham , International Journal of Technology in Computer Science & Engineering,

Volume 2(2) , June 2015 , pp 165- 174
Available online at http://www.ijtcse.com

ISSN 2349-1582

To close the top opening and complete the box, a reinforced concrete deck slab is added which acts
compositely with the steel section by a means of shear connectors, to ensure full interaction between them.
Therefore, during construction, the steel girders are subjected to the wet concrete load in addition to other
construction loads without the composite action that results from the hardened concrete deck.
The main objectives and scope for the study are Develop three-dimensional finite element beam and shell
models of straight and curved box girders using the commercially available finite element computer program
"ANSYS". And perform the parametric investigation utilizing the FEM model of the curved box to determine
the effect of spacing of bracings on the stresses and effect of longitudinal stiffeners on the bottom plate
stresses.
2.RELATED WORK AND DIRECTIONS
Hambly and Pennells (1975) connected this admiration to the multicellular superstructure and Kissane and
Beal (1975) to bended multispine box-support spans. The ceaseless bended scaffold is demonstrated as an
arrangement of discrete bended longitudinal individuals meeting orthogonally with transverse grillage
individuals. As a consequence of the tumble off in anxiety at focuses remote from networks because of shear
slack, the piece width is supplanted by a lessened viable width over which the anxiety is thought to be
uniform. The proportionate solidness of the continuum is lumped orthogonally along the grillage individuals.
Cheung (1982) managed the computation of the longitudinal twisting minute and transverse shear in
multispine box-support extensions utilizing the grillageanalogy system.
The outcomes from this technique were contrasted positively with the outcomes acquired from 3D
examination utilizing the limited strip system. One issue which emerges by utilizing the grillage similarity
technique is in deciding the compelling width of the piece to incorporate the shear slack impacts. Another
trouble of this system lies in assessing the torsional firmness of shut cells. Palatable, however estimated
results can be attained to in demonstrating the torsional firmness of a solitary shut cell by a proportionate Ipillar torsional solidness (Evans and Shanmugam 1984).
Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code (CHBDC 2000) has constrained the utilization of this system in the
examination of voided chunk and box-support connects in which the quantity of cells or boxes is more
noteworthy than two. Kim, Fu and Kim (2007 & 2007) distributed two papers on framing the dynamic
solidness network of slender walled bended pillar on flexible establishment and clasping/vibration
assessment.
Mishra has examined the conduct of box support scaffolds utilizing Finite Element Method and thought that it
was suitable and compelling to examine the case segments. In the present paper a definite investigation of
three crate cross-segments (Rectangular, Trapezoidal and Circular) has been done utilizing limited
component code SAP-2000. The impact of, expansion top to bottom of rectangular Box Girder on its conduct
has been additionally displayed.
3.PROBLEM DEFINITION
In the present work non composite straight and bended steel boxes are dissected with shaft and shell
components utilizing the three dimensional limited component examinations and their conduct is researched.
The points of interest of the cross-areas are given in Figure 1 and Table 1.
Albeit critical examination has been in progress on cutting edge investigation for a long time to better
comprehend the conduct of a wide range of box-support spans, nonetheless, the consequences of these

P. Sachithanantham , International Journal of Technology in Computer Science & Engineering,

Volume 2(2) , June 2015 , pp 165- 174
Available online at http://www.ijtcse.com

ISSN 2349-1582

different exploration works are scattered and unevaluated. Subsequently, a reasonable comprehension of later
chip away at straight and bended box-support scaffolds is profoundly fancied.
4. FINITE ELEMENT MODELING AND ELEMENT DESCRIPTION
The finite-element method is a numerical procedure for solving problems in engineering and mathematical
physics. In structural problems, the solution is typically concerned with determining stresses and
displacements. Finite element model gives approximate values of the unknowns at discrete number of points
in a continuum. This numerical method of analysis starts by discretizing a model.
Discretization is the process where a body is divided into an equivalent system of smaller bodies or units
called elements. These elements are interconnected with each other by means of certain points called nodes.
An equation is then formulated combining all the elements to obtain a solution for one whole body.
In the case of small displacements and linear material response, using a displacement formulation, the
stiffness matrix of each element is derived and the global stiffness matrix of the entire structure can be
formulated by assembling the stiffness matrices of all elements using direct stiffness method. This global
stiffness matrix, along with the given displacement boundary conditions and applied loads is then solved, thus
that the displacements and stresses for the entire system are determined.
5. LOADING PLACEMENT
5.1 Longitudinal Placement
I.R.C Class 70R live load were first applied on a simply supported girder, with a span equal to that of the
bridge prototype, to determine the case which produced maximum moment at mid span. The following figure
3 has shown the placement of 70R wheeled loading for 20.0m span bridge. It was found that the critical
moment was generated for Class 70R wheeled vehicle loading; therefore, parametric study was done by
placing Class 70R wheeled vehicle loading. Subsequently three loading cases were considered for each
bridge prototype, central and eccentric IRC Class 70R loading, and bridge dead load.

Figure 3. Placement of class 70R wheeled vehicle on 20m span for maximum
moment at mid span

P. Sachithanantham , International Journal of Technology in Computer Science & Engineering,

Volume 2(2) , June 2015 , pp 165- 174
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5.2 Transverse Placement

The transverse load placement conditions are shown in the following Figure 4(a) and (b). To find critical
effect on bridge deck, train of IRC Class 70R wheeled loads was placed symmetrically with respect to the
central line of bridge deck as well as at 1.2m eccentricity from one end.

Figure 4. Transverse placement of IRC class 70R vehicle on two lane bridge deck
(a) Symmetrically, (b) Eccentrically
6, VALIDATION OF THE FINITE ELEMENT MODEL
To validate the developed finite element model of bridge deck in ANSYS a numerical example from the
literature has been taken. The non-composite steel box bridge models that are used in this chapter to study the
behavior of the straight and curved box girder are two-span single box girder bridges of total span length
97536mm.
There are four types of bridges that are modeled in ANSYS for the current study.
1. Straight box shell model (M1)
2. Curved box shell model (M2)
3. Straight box beam model (M3)
4. Curved box beam model (M4)
A lateral bracing system is installed at the top flange level in the open-top box girder to form a quasi-closed
box, thereby increasing the torsional stiffness. Crossed diagonal bracing systems are considered part of lateral
bracing systems. Internal transverse bracing or internal cross frames are provided at regular intervals in the
box. In negativebending region, longitudinal stiffener is provided in the bottom flange. The cross section
dimensions are as shown in Figure 5.

P. Sachithanantham , International Journal of Technology in Computer Science & Engineering,

Volume 2(2) , June 2015 , pp 165- 174

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Available online at http://www.ijtcse.com

Figure 5: Cross Section Dimensions (mm.) of the box

7.PARAMETRIC STUDY
The parametric study was conducted to obtain information about the curved box girder bridges that could aid
in understanding the factors affecting the stress distribution. The objectives of this parametric study were to:
1. Determine the effect of spacing of bracings on the stresses and
2. Determine the effect of longitudinal stiffeners on the bottom plate stresses.
7.1 Bracing Effect:
In terms of bracing effect, internal bracings improve the ability of the cross section to transfer loads from one
girder to an adjacent one.
Table 1 shows the variation of stresses against the number of bracings in the maximum positive moment
region. It can be observed that the stresses decrease with increasing number of cross frames.
Table 1: stresses variation vrs number of bracings in Max +M region
Nodes
Position No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Normal Stress in Long direction Sx (N/mm2)

23 bracings
10 bracings
4 bracings
-74
-95
-150
-75
-77
-86
-150
-135
-102
-2
-16
-54
-32
-29
-23
-94
-73
-17
65
70
82
11
5
-6

Normal Stress in transverse direction Sx (N/mm2)

23 bracings
10 bracings
4 bracings
722
1300
1608
8512
9425
10798
-5178
-5030
-4337
38
-28
-510
31
-570
-912
-2859
-2904
-1840
-5200
-4860
-5033
-2117
-2668
-3178

P. Sachithanantham , International Journal of Technology in Computer Science & Engineering,

Volume 2(2) , June 2015 , pp 165- 174

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Figure 6: Comparison curves showing stresses in bottom flange in Max +M region

Table 2: Stresses in bottom flange in Max +M region
Node
No.
2330
2320
3196
3205
3214
3184
4160
4169
4178
4148
4539

Stresses in BF with
longitudinal stiffener
(N/mm2)
39
36
33
30
27
24
21
19
16
13
10

Stresses in BF without
longitudinal stiffener (N/mm2)
40
36
34
30
26
24
22
19
16
13
10

Table 3: Stresses in bottom flange in Max -M region

Node No.

2182
2172
2908
2917
2926
2896
3872
3881
3890
3850

Stresses in BF with
longitudinal stiffener
(N/mm2)
-124
-113
-106
-97
-110
-107
-118
-129
-122
-123

Note: Avg difference is 5.64%

Stresses in BF without
longitudinal stiffener (N/mm2)
-131
-120
-112
-103
-116
-119
-124
-135
-127
-128

% difference between Stresses

with & without longitudinal
stiffener
5.49
6.01
5.50
6.00
5.31
10.62
4.96
4.54
4.01
4.00

P. Sachithanantham , International Journal of Technology in Computer Science & Engineering,

Volume 2(2) , June 2015 , pp 165- 174
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Figure 7: Comparison curves showing stresses in bottom flange in Max -M region

7.2Longitudinal stiffeners
In the current analysis using finite element program ANSYS, the longitudinal stiffeners were modeled using
shell elements in non-composite model. To study the effect of longitudinal stiffeners on bottom plate stresses
two models were used with the same geometric configuration, one with the longitudinal stiffener and one
without the longitudinal stiffener. Table 2 and 3 shows the comparison of stresses with and without the
longitudinal stiffener in the bottom flange in the max +M and max M region respectively.
Figures 6 and 7 shows the comparison curves thus explaining the longitudinal stiffener contribution to the
bottom plate stresses.It is observed that the longitudinal stiffener has comparatively much significant effect
on the bottom plate stresses of negative moment cross section than on the bottom plate stresses of positive
moment cross section.
VIII. CONCULSION
In this study, the main objective is to investigate the static structural behavior of straight and curved noncomposite box girder bridgesThe model M2 which is a curved box shell model to carry out parametric study
to evaluate the influence of several important parameters on the response of the girders stresses. The
objective of this parametric study was to determine the effect of spacing of bracings on the stresses and
determine the effect of longitudinal stiffeners on the bottom plate stresses.

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17986.
[3] Bazant ZP, Nimeiri MEL. Stiffness method for curved box girders at initial stress, Journal Structural Engineering
ASCE, No. 10, 100(1974) 207190.
[4] Wright RN, Abdel-Samad SR, Robinson AR. BEF analogy for analysis of box girders, Journal of Structural
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[5] Luo QZ, Li QS. Shear lag of thin-walled curved box girder bridges, Journal of Engineering Mechanics, ASCE, No.
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[6] Mishra A. Finite Element analysis of box girder bridges, M. Tech. Thesis, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee,
Roorkee, India, 2007.

P. Sachithanantham , International Journal of Technology in Computer Science & Engineering,

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[7] IRC: 6-2000, Standard Specifications and Code of Practice for Road Bridges, Section II, Loads and Stresses, The
Indian Roads Congress, 2000.
[8] IRC: 21-2000, Standard Specifications and Code of Practice for Road Bridges, Section III, Cement Concrete (Plain
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