Long-term effects of creep and shrinkage on the structural behavior of balanced cantilever prestressed concrete bridges

This thesis addresses the topic of ongoing (excessive) deformations observed in balanced cantilever prestressed concrete bridges all over the world. Many authors attribute this behavior to the time-dependent phenomena of creep and shrinkage. Balanced cantilever bridges are classified as creep-sensitive structures, and for that reason, a detailed...

Optimizing the assessment of fatigue in inverted T-girder bridges: A parametric study of the factors influencing the fatigue analysis of concrete under compression

With the continuous increase in transportation volume, bridges face the challenge of carrying higher traffic loads. As a result, bridges undergo fatigue due to repeated and increasing loads, leading to progressive deterioration of their structural reliability. While existing codes already account for several variables affecting the concrete's...

Investigation of the usage of SHCC as a closure pour to reduce the construction time of widening a prestressed concrete bridge

The Netherlands is currently facing a significant challenge regarding its highway system due to the rise in traffic, especially in densely populated areas like The Randstad. However, constructing new infrastructure or replacing old bridges is not a practical solution due to environmental concerns. Most of the country's prestressed concrete...

Modelling the interface in concrete-to-concrete connections between precast girders and cast-in-situ top layers

A significant part of composite concrete viaducts was built in the 50s and 60s. This has led to an increasing need for the reassessment of the precast concrete beam bridges in the Netherlands. Many of those bridges are nowadays subjected to higher traffic loads and consequently, have a certain risk of not complying with the currently used design...

Application of Coda Wave Interferometry with embedded Smart Aggregate in a prestressed cast-in-situ concrete continuous slab bridge

In recent years, the area of structural engineering has found new interesting prospects in the theory of waves. The acoustoelastic properties of materials are utilized in a new promising structural health monitoring (SHM) technique. The propagation of ultrasonic waves through stressed elements gives the ability to find invaluable information on...

Transverse load-spread of a voided bridge deck: Comparison between a grillage model and an orthotropic plate model

Orthotropic bridges can be modelled using a grillage model and an orthotropic plate model. The grillage model has some benefits (i.e.: shorter calculation time and easier to apply pre-stressing) compared to the orthotropic plate model. However, during the Blankenburgverbinding project Ballast Nedam experienced that the transverse load-spread of...

Reliability Analysis of Railway Concrete Bridges using Expert Judgment Studies

New railway bridges for high-speed trains are being built in a many countries around the world. In addition to the construction of new bridges, existing bridges are ageing. These two factors make the assessment of railway bridges essential. The bridges are designed considering certain predefined reliability criteria to account for the...

Knowledge Model for the Parametric Design of Concrete Viaducts

The Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) industry has been traditionally fragmented, with a lot of disciplines specialising in different aspects of a project and encapsulating different knowledge areas. This research project, entitled “Knowledge Model for the Parametric Design of Concrete Viaducts”, investigates the development of...

Critical Proof Load for Proof Load Testing of Concrete Bridges based on Scripted FEM Analysis

Bridges with different geometrical configurations have been searched with linear finite element analysis. The aim is to find the position and value of critical proof load. Four different parameters, namely span length, width, skewness and thickness ratio, their influence on proof load are found. In total, 166 sets of data are obtained by...

Ultra-high performance fiber-reinforced concrete in incremental bridge launching

Incremental bridge launching is one of the many ways in which a bridge can be constructed. In The Netherlands this method is not often used. This may be explained by the fact, that there are not many suitable locations for application of this method. Incremental bridge launching is profitable for long bridges and can only be used for straight...

Arches, Nonlinear? Investigating the geometrically nonlinear behaviour of arches in 2D.

The research showed that there is only a poor relation between second order bending moment magnification via Euler buckling and the actual geometrically nonlinear behaviour of arches. The better approach for the second order effect is to think of additional bending moments caused by imperfections and by the imaginary second order loading. The...

Stabiliteit van een dragende-leuning brug uitgevoerd in beton. Stability of a concrete pedestrain bridge with load bearing railings

Usually, concrete bridges contain a ‘thick’ bridge deck. For various reasons, bridges are constructed with railings. This thesis discusses the stability problem of concrete bridges, which are designed with integrated railings into the carrying construction. The most important advantage, using load bearing railings, is a thinner bridge deck. This...

Mechanisch gedrag van brugopleggingen van de Dintelhavenbrug

New and current materials for bridge bearings are subjected to tests, according to the European Standards (NEN-EN 1337). With these tests the materials are not subjected to forces, displacements and rotations that are similar to those in practice. In order to give a critical opinion about the tests, it is necessary to obtain more knowledge about...

Mega Floating Concrete Bridges

Introduction This graduation project has been initiated to research the technical feasibility of floating bridges. The project has been done in co-operation with the FDN engineering company and Delft technical university. A design is made of a continuous pontoon floating bridge, which connects a mainland to an island. Floating bridges can be...