Major Design Project – Prestressed concrete bridge girder

To be attempted in groups (maximum up to 4 people per group)

Value: 30%
A two lane traffic bridge is constructed of a reinforced concrete deck simply supported
by pre-stressed concrete girders. The bridge is 60 m long, about 7 m wide and is
supported by a total of twelve pre-stressed 20 m long beams over three spans of 20 m.
Plan and cross section views of the bridge are shown below. The beams are supported
by two abutments and two headstocks.

Bridge Plan View

Bridge Cross View

Detail 1
 The girder shown in detail 1 is the Type 4 standard I girder given in AS5100.5, page 155.

Scope of Work
Each group is required to:
• Establish the critical design loads and load combinations for the bridge
• Model the bridge deck and supporting girders using the Grillage method
• Determine design actions for Ultimate Strength Design and Serviceability Design of the
bridge girders.
• Design and detail pre stressed concrete girders to satisfy the AS5100 requirements
considering:
o selection of prestress force
o losses of prestress
o stress limits at service loads
o deflections at service loads
o flexural strength at ultimate design loads
o shear strength at ultimate design loads.

What to submit
Major project report submission due Monday 22th May by 5pm in hardcopy to school
office, (mark allocation 30% of course 5% penalty per day overdue) report must include
• Grillage analysis of bridge deck and girders, including section properties of bridge
riders and deck, traffic load input and load combination cases adopted (basically
everything that was submitted for feedback in week 4)
o Provide an introduction and assumptions, load and load cases to be adopted
o Grillage set-up: configuration of longitudinal element s (beam girders) and
transverse element s (slab), input bridge girder and deck section types
o Traffic load input : lane loading and truck loading according to AS5100
Austroad bridge design code, apply combination load cases for serviceability
and ultimate limit state
o Spacegass analysis results of design actions for serviceability and ultimate
limit state. Provide text report, bending moment diagram, shear force
 diagram, and deflected shape for maximum serviceability and ultimate limit
cases.

• Summary of maximum design actions (bending moment, shear force and deflection)
for Serviceability Design and Ultimate Strength Design of the bridge deck and
girders.
• Design and detail pre stressed concrete girders to satisfy the AS5100 requirements
considering:
o Selection of prestress force
o losses of prestress
o stress limit checks at service load and transfer of prestress force
o deflections at service loads
o flexural strength at ultimate design loads and strength at transfer
o shear strength at ultimate design loads
• Drawing of girder cross section detail and longitudinal plan

Torsion Constant
The torsion constant is a geometrical property of a beam's cross-section which
determines the relationship between angle of twist and applied torque.
For a beam of uniform cross-section along its length:
TL
θ=
JG
where:
θ is the angle of twist in radians
T is the applied torque
L is the beam length
J is the torsion constant
G is the modulus of rigidity of the material (this is a material property.
For steel G is 80000 MPa. G can be calculated as E/(1+ν) where E and ν are the Elastic
modulus and Poisson’s ratio respectively.
For non-circular cross-sections, there are no exact analytical equations for finding J.
Approximate solutions have been found for many shapes.
For an open section such as an I section, the torsion constant is:
 bt 3 
J = ∑ 
 3 
So for an equal flange I-beam:

J=
( 2bt + ( d − 2t ) t )
3
f f
3
w

3
 where:
b = flange width
t f = flange thickness

d = beam depth
t w = web thickness

For a hollow section such as a box girder:

4 A2
J=
ds
∑
t
where:
A is the area within the median line of the hollow shape, and
ds
the ratio of lengths of sides of the median line divided by the wall thickness is .
t
Alternatively Autocad can calculate J for you.

Assessment
All group members are expected to have knowledge of and contribute to all parts of the major
project. The assessment criteria outlined in the project brief is based on the quality of a written report
with spacegass analysis for loads, design calculations and drawings performed by the students. Each
group member’s grading will be based on overall group grade. In an event of dispute among group
members, a peer assessment will be conducted and individual marks will be assigned within the
discretion of the teaching staff
 Concrete Structures 2
Final Submission 30%
Prestressed Concrete Bridge Girder Design –
Marking allocation
Group members:
Task Max Given Comments
mark mark
Analysis of Bridge Deck and griders 20
• Grillage set-up in spacegass
• Traffic load input – primary loads and load
combinations
• Spacegass analysis results ie bending moment
diagrams, shear force diagrams and deflected shape at
service limit state and ultimate limit state load
conditions
• Provide summary table of Maximum moment,
maximum shear force and maximum deflection at
service limit state and ultimate limit state load
conditions

Selection of the prestress force for design of Prestress 10

concrete (PC) bridge girder
• Calculate maximum initial prestress force in PC beam
section at transfer load to ensure safety
• Estimate the effective prestress force to balance the
total dead load. (assume 20% deferred losses to then
calculate lower bound initial prestress force)
• Re-confirm section safe at transfer with lower bound
value of initial prestress force

Determine number of strands needed in post 10

tensioning duct
• Assume 10% immediate losses to calculate prestress
jacking force
Calculate prestress losses for the selected prestress 10
jacking force (use the new prestress losses in further
calculations)
Stress limit checks 10
• Check adequacy of PC beam at mid span section at
transfer of prestress force
• Check adequacy of beam at mid span section under
services loads (Is the beam section cracked? If cracked
add nominal amount of compression and tension
reinforcement to PC beam section)
Design for Serviceability limit state 10
• Calculate maximum mid-span deflection of PC beam
under service load conditions
• Check calculated deflection is less than code limit
Design for Ultimate Strength limit state 20
• Calculate the ultimate moment capacity of the PC
at mid–span section (additional flexural
reinforcement may be needed)
• Check the ultimate flexural strength
• Calculate the strength of the PC beam at transfer
 • check capacity the strength of the beam at transfer
is adequate
• Design shear reinforcement for the PC beam at
critical sections.
Overall presentation 10
Total 100