2009 Second International Conference on Information and Computing Science
Thermal behavior of Composite Girder Bridges
Zhang Tao
School of Traffic and Transportation Engineering
Dalian Jiaotong University
Dalian, China
Zhang_tao4567@163.com
Abstract—For composite girder bridges, thermal effects could
not be ignored which is significant when compared to dead or
live load effects. Temperature distributions involved in
concrete bridges and composite girder bridges are at best
different due to dissimilar material properties and cross
sections. This paper presents the characteristics of the
temperature field for composite girder bridges. The
relationship between the ambient temperature field and the
structural temperature field is analyzed. The principle of
Fouier heat theory is adopted to establish a numerical model
for the composite girder. Simulation results verify the
effectiveness of the proposed method. Based on this, the
structural temperature filed can be simplified as the thermal
gradient for composite girder bridges, which has practical
value in the design for reasonable controlling the thermal
displacement.
Keywords-composite girder bridge; temperature field;
thermal effect
I. INTRODUCTION
Temperature related bridge problems have been the
subject of rather extensive studies in the past decades [1,2].
The damage of cracking often occurs in bridge for the
temperature function. Such thermal effects in bridges are
known to be caused by temperature differences [3].
In sometimes, the stress and the deflection due to the
thermal action even exceed that of the other live load or
contribute to the collapse of bridge[4]. Design temperature
gradients have considerable impact on bridge performance
and durability [5]. The evaluation of accurate values for
thermal actions is important for structural engineers during
the design and construction phases of bridges [6]. Therefore
design of bridges is needed to consider behaviors under
thermal effects.
Most studies, however, have been devoted to concrete
bridges, particularly concrete box-girder structures [7,8,9].
The composite girder bridge is composed of the steel and
the concrete which have different thermal properties. The
cross section of the composite bridge is different with the
concrete bridge. Under the sunshine the temperature
distribution in concrete deck and the steel girder is special.
The thermal action has important effect on the connection
between the steel girder and the upper concrete deck and the
endure stability of the composite girder bridge. Therefore the
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DOI 10.1109/ICIC.2009.393
shear connections in a composite bridge must be capable of
resisting thermal stresses.
It is practical and necessary for the design of the
composite bridge how to select the proper temperature
gradient according to the adaptability of the current code and
the specific character of the different types of composite
girder bridge.
This paper presents the findings from temperature
measurements of an experimental composite bridge. A
mathematical model for thermal analysis of composite girder
bridges has also been developed. Finally, from the numerical
comparisons, design temperature profiles are proposed.
II. ANALYSIS
A. Sun radiation on the composite girder bridge
Bridges exposed to the atmosphere are subjected to an
exchange of heat energy between their surfaces and their
surroundings. The concrete deck, after being heated by the
solar radiation, acts as a heat source and raises the
temperatures of the steel plates which are not exposed to
direct sunlight. However, the concrete deck, though subject
to continuous heating from solar radiation, does not
experience any substantial increase in temperature, simply
because concrete is a poor conductor of heat flow and
concrete adjusts its temperature many times slower than
steel. Because of the non-uniformity of the temperatures in
concrete deck and steel girder, large internal thermal stresses
are developed in composite bridges if any thermal
deformation is restrained.
Temperature variations cause bridge to expand and
contract. The movements are often accommodated by the
bearings and expansion joints. Large forces may develop in
the structure.
The surface temperature of the composite bridge is varied
with the daily temperature and radiation in ambient
conditions. For the thermal properties of the concrete, the
variation of the concrete deck is slowly than the steel girder.
The temperature stress is induced when the deflection of the
composite bridge in which different parts have different
temperature is constrained.
The daily temperature and sun radiation are major factor
affect on the temperature gradients for the composite bridge.
The temperature imposed on the surface of the composite
bridge by the sun radiation combine with the ambient
temperature make the temperature higher than the inner part. distribution of arbitrary element marked e is expressed
The conduction from the hotter part to the colder part approximately (4):
generates the temperature gradients in the composite bridge.
The unsteady thermal flow is made with the variation of the T( x, y, t ) e = [ N ]{T}
e
(4)
surface temperature.
B. Numerical simulation of temperature distribution where
1) General formulation. To study the temperature [ N] —Linear shape function
distributions in composite bridges, a numerical method was {T} —Temperature column vector of every node in element
e

developed to obtain the temperature evolution, in a defined The basic equation of calculating transient temperature
structure, during a day with specified environment field by variation method:
characteristics. It is assumed that there is temperature
equilibrium along the bridge longitudinal axis. This d{T}
hypothesis is close to reality as concrete bridge cross [C] + [ K ]{T} − {F} = 0 (5)
dt
sections and climatic boundary conditions usually have
slight variations along the length. This simplification leads where
to a two-dimensional heat transfer problem in the cross {T( t )} —Node temperature column vector at time t
section, which can be expressed by the well-known Fourier {F( t )} —Thermal loading column vector at time t
(1):
[C] —Matrix of specific heat
[K ] —Matrix of thermal conductivity
∂2T ∂2T
ρcT = K( + )+q (1) Through the finite element method, partial differential
∂x2 ∂y2 v equation of thermal conductivity in composite bridges was
discrete in spatial domain, with the help of numerical
where simulation software using backward difference we can attain
the temperature field at any time in composite bridges. It can
T —Time derivative of temperature be described by (5).
K —Thermal conductivity of concrete ( W ⋅ m −1 ⋅ °C −1 )
ρ —Density of material C. Temperature measurement
c —Coefficient of specific heat of concrete ( J ⋅ kg −1 ⋅ °C −1 ) 1) Bridge description. In order to validate the proposed
approach, models have been established since 2007. One
q v —The heat of hydration ( W ⋅ m −3 ) composite girder with instrumentation has been set up. Fig. 1
The boundary conditions associated with (1) can be shows the location of the thermocouples at the instrumented
expressed by: cross section of girder. The plate girder section comprises a
380×560cm2 concrete plate deck supported on three I-main
⎛ ∂T ∂T ⎞ beam sections of 40cm depth and three I-cross beam sections
K ⎜⎜ nx + n y ⎟⎟ + q = 0 (2)
∂ x ∂y of 25cm depth (Fig.. 2). Platinum resistance type detectors
⎝ ⎠
are used to measure temperatures at different locations.
where Measurements are taken and stored by data loggers at five-
n x , n y —Direction cosines of the unit outward vector minute intervals.
2) Experiment study and calibration of numerical model.
normal to the boundary surfaces The comparison between the analytical results derived from
q —The time rate of heat transferred between the surface the present method and the experimental results has been
and the environment per unit area (W⋅m-2) carried out for several days. However, in this paper, we only
The energy transferred between the surface elements and present the results for one day cycle and the experiments of
the environment is due to convection qc, thermal irradiation time-dependant are shown in Fig.. 3.
qr, and solar radiation qs

q = qc + qr + qs (3)

2) Nonlinear finite element analysis of temperature

field. The finite-element model developed is used to simulate thermocouples
the thermal flow of the solar radiation for composite bridges.
The cross section of the model is meshed, it is divided
into finite number of discrete element, and through the finite
element method we can solve (2) easily. The temperature Figure 1. Cross section of the composite girder

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 The comparison great error between the numerical and
center line center line
the experiment is included in 10%. There is excellent
of the bearing of the bearing agreement. From the solution we can see the finite element
6.5 56×10 6.5
method used in composite bridges is feasible and accurate.
shear connector
III. THERMAL BEHAVIOR OF COMPOSITE BRIDGE
cross beam
55

cross beam Through the numerical analysis model, the stage of every
cross beam
point and every time can be simulated. But to the model
10 tests, based on the maximum positive temperature difference,
276.5 276.5 10 we can apply the curve of the temperature gradient as the
main girder major
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design parameter to calculate the temperature stress and
temperature deflection.
Elevation According to the analysis and calculation of this paper,
the temperature difference would attain its maximum around
573 3:00 p.m. in middle span of composite bridge (Fig.. 3). Both
10 276.5 276.5 10 test and analytical result show that: the temperature
distribution in concrete deck is nonlinear, the temperature
difference is maximum. While the steel support girder is
tested at an essentially uniform temperature through the
depth since steel, because of its high thermal conductivity,
adjusts its temperature quickly to that of the shaded air.
8
14.6

The solar radiation time and the solar radiation intensity

160

are maximum on the top slab than others parts of the bridge,
so the temperature on top is higher than that of bottom. The
14.6

shadow effect of the flange length, web depth and orientation

of the bridge which affect the solar radiation receiving, these
380

cause the different temperature: higher in toward the sun side

8

and the outer surface.

During summer sunshine day, the temperature of the
160

11.8 11.8 11.8 upper deck increases much than steel girder as the sun rise.
The maximum temperature difference is shown in Fig. 4.
14.6

There is an equilibrium expand and contract along the bridge

longitudinal axis or depth of the cross section under the
action of a temperature equilibrium, while there exist up
8

warp or down deflection in concrete deck for the nonlinear

7 56×10 7
temperature difference. In addition, the shadow effect of the
concrete deck to steel girder has increase the temperature
286.5 286.5 difference, so it is important to take into account the
connection between concrete deck and steel girder in the
Top surface stage of design.

Shear conector Analytical results

8 8 Experimental results
8
50
15

40
Cross beam
25

30
Main girder Main girder
20
30 160 160 30 10
380 0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23
I--I Time (h)
Figure 2. Types of the composite girder bridges investigated
Figure 3. Comparison between measured and calculated temperature

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 [8] A.K. Dwivedi and Bhargava, “Effect of non-linear temperature
20 30 40 50 60 distributions in concrete box girder bridges”, Journal of Structural
Engineering, 2006, 32(6). pp. 812-831.
[9] P. J. Barr and M.O. Eberhard, “Effects of temperature variations on
precast, prestressed concrete bridge girgers”, Journal of Bridge
Engineering, 2005, 10(2), pp.1276-1294.

Figure 4. Temperature distribution along the composite girder bridge

IV. CONCLUSION
We can simulate the structure temperature field at any
time through the numerical modeling for composite girder
bridges, and the reliability of the proposed method and the
calculation precision are verified.
The vertical temperature distribution caused by the solar
radiation in composite girder bridges is not homogeneity, the
temperature distribution in concrete deck is nonlinear, and
the temperature difference changes a little with the ambient
environment change.
Under the solar radiation, the shear connection is easy to
damage, so we should pay sufficiently attention to the
temperature effect caused by temperature gradient in the
connector design.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by 2008 Scientific Research
Plan Projects for Higher Education of Liaoning Education
Department (Project Number: 2008091).
This research was also supported by China Postdoctoral
Science Foundation ( Project Number:20080441119) .
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[4] L. Charin, “Measurements of thermal gradients and their effects in
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