Engineers historically
“overdesigned” bridges using substantial
margins of safety to compensate
for unknown forces that could
affect a structure over time. To
help ensure future bridges will
be economical, as well as reliable
and easy to maintain, researchers
at Penn State University use
Abaqus/Standard software from
Simulia in Providence, R.I., to
model and analyze virtual bridges. This lets them solve design problems
before any concrete is poured or spans erected.
“Until recently, civil engineering relied on linear-elastic, small-deflection
FEA as the backbone of bridge analysis,” says Civil and Engineering
Associate Professor Daniel Linzell. “But, in many instances, it
is an approximation. It doesn’t capture the full range of real-world nonlinear
responses in large and complicated structures. So higher-order
FEA software is necessary.”
Such software, for example, incorporates responses of steel and
concrete to the weight of the bridge, as well as to wind, water, traffic,
corrosion, temperature, and even time. (Concrete and steel creep,
resulting in long-term deformation). Of course the software also accounts
for traditional parameters such as material and geometric
nonlinearities.
The software closely predicts nonlinear deformation of bridge materials.
For example, steel has yield stresses of 100 ksi, almost three
times that of steel 10 to 15 years ago. The new, stronger steel is lighter,
but also more flexible.
Linzell says his group uses Abaqus to model existing designs, which
can be in CAD formats, on paper, or based on as-built measurements
taken from structures under construction. They then choose the material
model, say, concrete or steel, and an element type, such as 3D triangles
or rectangles, depending on the material model and geometry.
Next, the group establishes boundary conditions. “This entails selecting
how the area of the bridge under consideration is restrained,
whether with a contact condition or discrete restraint, and how friction
is represented,” says Linzell. “We apply forces to the bridge deck
to represent vehicle loads and to beam faces to represent wind loads.
We also account for thermal loads such as temperature changes during
construction and use the Abaqus creep module for time-dependent factors.
The software calculates stresses at the nodes or in the elements.”
The group modifies bridge models where loads are excessive and
repeats the process until an acceptable configuration is reached. “The
software can also evaluate residual life of structures which are still
standing but may be cracked,” says Linzell. “And it can pinpoint reasons
for collapse as well.”
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