THERMAL-BEHAVIOR OF COMPOSITE BRIDGES

This paper presents the analytical results obtained from a parametric study on the thermal behavior of three types of composite bridge structures subjected to solar radiation, namely, a plate-girder, a single-cell box, and a two-cell box-girder concrete-steel composite bridge. A series of transient temperature distributions and the thermal stresses for a few selected temperature cases corresponding to a given geographic location and assumed environmental conditions are computed. The results of this study confirm that a steady-state thermal condition never exists within a bridge structure, in that ambient air temperature and intensity of solar radiation are both time-dependent. The effects of convection coefficient, slab overhang, and air temperature inside an enclosed box on the temperature distributions of the bridge deck are examined and discussed. © ASCE.