Response of Long‐Span Soil‐Metal Structures

Abstract

In the last four decades, soil‐metal structures have been used extensively as short‐span bridges. With deep soil cover, the soil provides the necessary support for the metallic structure. However, for long spans and shallow soil cover, the soil may not provide enough support. Failures of such structures, some catastrophic, are reported. Previous studies show that reinforcing the soil and tieing the metal structure into the soil improve dramatically the load response. In this paper, a rational design and analytical procedure is presented to determine the ultimate load response of reinforced and nonreinforcing soil‐metal structures of long span under shallow soil cover conditions. The procedure is based on a buckling mode of failure. The effect of reinforcing is accounted for by using a modified modulus of soil reaction. Results from five model soil‐metal structures are compared to the theoretical results. An illustrated design example is given.