Introduction - Finite Element Analysis and Design of Steel and Steel-Concrete Composite Bridges - page 21

aims that the presented material can update the information related to
steel and steel-concrete composite bridges and act as basis for future
investigations.
1.3.2 Recent Investigations on Steel Bridges
Curved steel I-shaped plate girder bridges have been the subject of exper-
imental and analytic studies presented by Zureick et al. [ 1.30 ]. The authors
have shown that due to the need to augment traffic capacity in urban high-
ways and the constraints of existing constructions, there has been a steady
increase in the use of curved bridges. This is attributed to the advantages
of curved steel girders comprising simplicity of fabrication and construction,
speed of erection, and serviceability performance. The study [ 1.30 ]
described a full-scale experimental and analytic program to develop new
design guidelines for horizontally curved steel bridges. The authors have
shown that although horizontally curved steel bridges constitute around
one-third of all steel bridges being erected today, their structural behavior
is not fully understood. The study was divided into six stages starting with
a review of previous research and followed by an investigation of construc-
tion issues, determination of straining actions, connection details, service-
ability considerations, and determination of the levels of analysis required
for horizontally curved girders. Based on, mainly, the comprehensive bib-
liography on curved steel girders, containing over 200 references, presented
by McManus et al. [ 1.31 ], the state-of-the-art review performed by the
ASCE-AASHTO Committee on Flexural Members [ 1.32 ] and the topic
published by Nakai and Yoo [ 1.33 ] , the authors have performed an exten-
sive literature review comprising around 900 references reported in [ 1.34 ] ,
which showed that approximate analytic methods for curved steel I-shaped
plate girder bridges have shortcomings since they do not consider the
bracing effect in the plane of the bottom flange and their reliability depends
on the selection of the proper live-load distribution factors. Thus, approx-
imate methods are only recommended for preliminary analyses. Also, the
authors [ 1.30 ] concluded that compared to different analytic methods
(finite strip, finite difference, closed-form solutions to differential equations,
and slope-deflection method), the finite element method can act as a gen-
eral and comprehensive technique to perform static/dynamic and elastic/
inelastic analyses with different mechanical and thermal loadings. The other
analytic methods can be as good as the finite element method but are limited
to certain configurations and boundary conditions. In addition, the authors