Onsa EH and Ahmed AA
The Integral-Abutment Bridge (IAB) concept was developed at least as far back as the 1930s to solve longterm structural problems that can occur with conventional bridge designs. Due to limited funding sources for bridge maintenance, it is desirable to establish strategies for eliminating joints as much as possible and converting/retrofitting bridges with troublesome joints to jointless design. IABs or jointless bridges have many advantages over full height abutment or stub abutment bridges. They eliminate expansion joints in bridge superstructures. They also simplify design, detailing, and construction. In spite of many of these recognized benefits, the behavior of such structures is not yet fully understood, and nationally adopted design criteria are still lacking. This paper presents results of finite element analysis of four IABs at Kassala State (Sudan), the four bridges are considered one of the first fully integral bridges designed and constructed in Sudan. The structural system adopted for these bridges is: RC walls on single row of piles at abutments and piers; hollow-core RC slab at deck. The temperature change is varied between 10°C and 50°C and three types of locally available soil are applied behind the abutments. The effects of varying temperature and embankment soil type in the deflection, maximum bending moments, and maximum shear forces are presented and discussed. The effect of temperature change and bridge length in the bridge forces is also presented; Useful comments on the optimum IAB length to be locally adopted are suggested.
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