Approach to evaluating damage from thermal bridge displacements

Bridges are subject to daily and seasonal thermal displacement cycles. In conventional bridges, expansion joints are used to accommodate these displacements. However, in integral bridges, the expansion joints are eliminated, and the superstructure, along with the bridge abutments, undergoes displacements during each temperature cycle. A practical approach to model both daily and seasonal temperature cycles was proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed approach was verified by conducting large-scale laboratory tests on segments of a bridge abutment supported by two different pile types: an H-pile and a prestressed reinforced concrete pile. The results of the tests have shown that the proposed method is practical and capable of detecting damage mechanisms induced by daily thermal displacement cycles. Test results also have shown that damage from daily thermal displacements is more pronounced in materials with nonlinear stress-strain properties.