Structural analysis and response of curved prestressed concrete box girder bridges

A numerical procedure for linear-elastic analysis and nonlinear material analysis of curved prestressed concrete box girder bridges is demonstrated through two examples. A curved nonprismatic thin-walled box beam element is used to model the bridges. The first example demonstrates the versatility of the numerical method in determining the linear-elastic distribution of forces in a three-span prestressed box girder bridge of curved plan geometry and variable cross section. Dead load, live load, and prestressing load cases are analyzed. In the second example, overload behavior and ultimate strength of a three-span curved prestressed concrete box girder bridge under increasing vehicular load are investigated. The different response characteristics of the bridge induced by different transverse locations of the overload vehicle are presented.