Transverse Bending Analysis of Twin-Cell Concrete Box Girder Bridges Using Simplified Frame Analysis.

Twin-cell box girder bridges are among the best choices to accommodate larger carriageway width with minimal construction difficulty when compared to other multicell box girders. Simplified frame analysis (SFA) is a method used in the design of box girder bridges, using which transverse bending moments can be found either manually or with the help of a simple computer program. As SFA is an approximate method, the usual practice is to increase the transverse bending moments obtained from SFA by 20%, which may not lead to the safe design of a structure. To eliminate these errors, correction factors are established by comparing the SFA results with three-dimensional finite element analysis conducted using CSi Bridge software. So far, these correction factors are established only in the case of single-cell concrete box girder bridges. As of now no literature can provide a detailed estimate of the correction required for the results obtained from SFA in the case of twin-cell box girder bridges. In the present work, correction factors are found for a simply supported twin-cell box girder bridge. An example illustrating the use of these correction factors for a safe design is also provided in the Appendix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]