Fatigue Life Analysis of Steel-Concrete Composite Bridge Considering Road Surface Condition

Abstract

The road surface roughness affects the dynamic interaction between vehicle. Due to this, the dynamic impact in the bridge due to vehicle is more if the road surface condition in the bridge is poor. This thesis presents a detailed analysis of a composite steel-concrete bridge for its fatigue life with inclusion of road surface condition. The model takes in to account the dynamic impact of vehicle on bridge and the stresses induced in the bridge girder affected by road surface condition in the bridge deck. The Finite Element Modeling of both vehicle and bridge is done in ANSYS- APDL and vehicle bridge interaction analysis is carried out. The results are presented to show the effect of good, average and poor road surface condition on the bridge’s fatigue life. It is found that the bridge with poor road surface condition has low fatigue life in compared to bridge with good road surface condition. The fatigue life is calculated using Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) approach which considers crack size information. This study can also be applied for the bridge with existing crack, of which, remaining fatigue life can be computed.