Simplified Method for Evaluating the Redundancy of Twin Steel Box-Girder Bridges

Abstract

A fracture-critical bridge (FCB) is a structure that is expected to collapse after the failure of an essential tension component. In the positive bending moment region, the bottom flanges of a twin steel box-girder bridge are considered to be fracture-critical elements. Bridges with fracture-critical elements are required to undergo stringent hands-on inspections at least every two years. These inspections, which often require lane closures, are labor intensive and costly. There have been multiple cases of FCBs that have experienced a failure in one of their fracture-critical elements without collapsing, which suggests that current provisions may not accurately account for the inherent redundancy that exists in various FCB structural systems. To improve the understanding of how a twin steel box-girder bridge behaves after suffering a full-depth fracture in one of its girders, simplified analytical methods have been developed and are presented in this paper. The proposed methodology has been validated against data from full-scale tests and provides a convenient means for predicting response.