Acoustic Non-Destructive Testing Technology in Concrete Bridge Inspection and Pile Foundation Detection

This article takes the actual construction project of a certain concrete bridge project as an example to analyze the application of acoustic non-destructive testing technology in its detection.It includes an overview of a certain bridge construction project studied and acoustic non-destructive testing technology and the application of acoustic non-destructive testing technology in actual testing.This analysis hopes to provide some guidelines for acoustic non-destructive testing of modern concrete bridge projects.

Applications of Ultrasonic Detection Technology in Bridge Concrete Pile Foundation Detection

In this paper,the application strategy of ultrasonic detection technology in the detection of concrete foundation piles is analyzed using a construction project as an example.It includes a basic overview of the project,an overview of ultrasonic testing technology in bridge concrete pile foundation testing,and an analysis of its practical application in the concrete pile foundation testing of this project.The objective of this analysis is to provide some reference for the application of ultrasonic testing technology and the improvement of the quality of bridge concrete pile foundation testing.

Recent Construction Technology Innovations and Practices for Large-Span Arch Bridges in China

Arch bridges provide significant technical and economic benefits under suitable conditions.In particular,concrete-filled steel tubular(CFST)arch bridges and steel-reinforced concrete(SRC)arch bridges are two types of arch bridges that have gained great economic competitiveness and span growth potential due to advancements in construction technology,engineering materials,and construction equipment over the past 30 years.Under the leadership of the author,two record-breaking arch bridges—that is,the Pingnan Third Bridge(a CFST arch bridge),with a span of 560 m,and the Tian’e Longtan Bridge(an SRC arch bridge),with a span of 600 m—have been built in the past five years,embodying great technological breakthroughs in the construction of these two types of arch bridges.This paper takes these two arch bridges as examples to systematically summarize the latest technological innovations and practices in the construction of CFST arch bridges and SRC arch bridges in China.The technological innovations of CFST arch bridges include cable-stayed fastening-hanging cantilevered assembly methods,new in-tube concrete materials,in-tube concrete pouring techniques,a novel thrust abutment foundation for nonrocky terrain,and measures to reduce the quantity of temporary facilities.The technological innovations of SRC arch bridges involve arch skeleton stiffness selection,the development of encasing concrete materials,encasing concrete pouring,arch rib stress mitigation,and longitudinal reinforcement optimization.To conclude,future research focuses and development directions for these two types of arch bridges are proposed.

Numerical Simulation Analysis of Welded Joints in Arch Ribs of Large Span Steel Pipe Arch Bridges

In order to study the residual stress distribution law of welded joints of arch ribs of large-span steel pipe concrete arch bridges,numerical simulation of temperature,stress and strain fields based on ABAQUS for welded joints of arch-ribbed steel tubes using 7-,8-and 9-layer welds is carried out and its accuracy is demonstrated.The steel pipe welding temperature changes,residual stress distribution,different processes residual stress changes in the law,the prediction of post-weld residual stress distribution and deformation are studied in this paper.The results show that the temperature field values and test results are more consistent with the accuracy of numerical simulation of welding,the welding process is mainly in the form of heat transfer;Residual high stresses are predominantly distributed in the Fusion zone(FZ)and Heat-affected zone(HAZ),with residual stress levels tending to decrease from the center of the weld along the axial path,the maximum stress appears in the FZ and HAZ junction;The number of welding layers has an effect on the residual stress distribution,the number of welding layers increases,the residual stress tends to decrease,while the FZ and HAZ high stress area range shrinks;Increasing the number of plies will increase the amount of residual distortion.

An Rapid Assessment Method for Bearing Capacity of RC Girder Bridges Based on Residual Strain

In order to realize the in-situ evaluation of reinforced concrete bridges subjected to fatigue for a long time or after earthquake, an evaluation method for cumulative damage of concrete structures based on unloading elastic modulus was proposed. First, according to the concrete stress-strain curve and the statistical relationship between residual strain and cumulative strain, the calculation method of static equivalent strain and residual strain concrete based on unloading elastic modulus and the method for estimating the strength of concrete after damage were proposed. The detailed steps of field test and analysis and the practical damage indicators of residual strain were given. Then, the evaluation method of existing stress and strain of Reinforced Concrete Bridge under dead load and the concept of “equivalent dead load bending moment” were put forward. On this basis, the paper analyzed the root cause of the decrease of bearing capacity of Reinforced Concrete Bridge after fatigue damage, and pointed out that the equivalent strain or residual strain of reinforced concrete increases under the fatigue effect, which led to the decreasing of actual live moment and deformation performance while the ultimate load-carrying capacity remained constant or very little decrease. The evaluation method of structure residual capacity was given, and through comparative analysis of eight T reinforced concrete beams that had been in service for 35 years with the static failure tests, the effectiveness of the method was verified.

Comparison study of durability design for concrete bridges:Chinese-code and Eurocode

Differences and similarities of durability design for concrete bridges in Chinese-code and Eurocode are identified and discussed. Exposure environment classes and regulations of the minimum concrete cover and strength of the two codes are compared and analyzed. Numerical calculations for predicting the durable life of bridges related to carbonization and chlorides corrosion （marine and de-icing） are conducted. The results show that provisions in the two codes can satisfy the durability requirements under carbonization whereas they cannot guarantee the durability for bridges in spray and splash zones. Enhancing the waterproof capacity and reducing the frequent use of de-icing agents are vital to improving the bridge durability. Some recommendations for upgrading the durability are also included.

Investigation the Correlation between Thermal Bridging and Geometries in Concrete Buildings

This article focuses on the investigation of the correlation between thermal bridging and various geometric configurations. The article employs QuickField software for conducting three-dimensional steady-state heat transfer simulations to investigate the thermal behaviors of diverse geometric shapes. Significantly, this study involves the simulation of four distinct geometries including concrete circular, square, rectangular, and triangular column through an insulated concrete layer while all geometries maintain the consistent surface areas. The simulations yield findings indicating that circular thermal bridging has the best thermal performance, while rectangular thermal bridging displays comparatively the lowest thermal efficiency. Furthermore, the results indicate that alterations in the perimeter of thermal bridge interfaces, while maintaining a constant area, exert a more pronounced influence on the thermal performance of the geometries compared to proportional changes in area while preserving the perimeter. The study’s findings aid building designers and architects in creating more energy-efficient structural and architectural elements by incorporating thermally efficient geometries and forms. .

Fragility curves of concrete bridges retrofitted by column jacketing

The Northridge earthquake inflicted various levels of damage upon a large number of Caltrans' bridges not retrofitted by column jacketing.In this respect,this study represents results of fragility curve development for two (2) sample bridges typical in southern California,strengthened for seismic retrofit by means of steel jacketing of bridge columns.Monte Carlo simulation is performed to study nonlinear dynamic responses of the bridges before and after column retrofit.Fragility curves in this study are represented by lognormal distribution functions with two parameters and developed as a function of PGA.The sixty (60) ground acceleration time histories for the Los Angeles area developed for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) SAC (SEAOC-ATC CUREe) steel project are used for the dynamic analysis of the bridges. The improvement in the fragility with steel jacketing is quantified by comparing fragility curves of the bridge before and after column retrofit.In this first attempt to formulate the problem of fragility enhancement,the quantification is made by comparing the median values of the fragility curves before and after the retrofit.Under the hypothesis that this quantification also applies to empirical fragility curves developed on the basis of Northridge earthquake damage,the enhanced version of the empirical curves is developed for the ensuing analysis to determine the enhancement of transportation network performance due to the retrofit.

Dynamic finite element model updating of prestressed concrete continuous box-girder bridge

The dynamic finite element model （FEM） of a prestressed concrete continuous box-girder bridge, called the Tongyang Canal Bridge, is built and updated based on the results of ambient vibration testing （AVT） using a real-coded accelerating genetic algorithm （RAGA）. The objective functions are defined based on natural frequency and modal assurance criterion （MAC） metrics to evaluate the updated FEM. Two objective functions are defined to fully account for the relative errors and standard deviations of the natural frequencies and MAC between the AVT results and the updated FEM predictions. The dynamically updated FEM of the bridge can better represent its structural dynamics and serve as a baseline in long-term health monitoring, condition assessment and damage identification over the service life of the bridge .

Crack detection of reinforced concrete bridge using video image

With the digital image technology,a crack detection method of reinforced concrete bridge was studied for the performance assessment.The effects including the image gray level,pixel rate,noise filter,and edge detection were analyzed considering cracks qualities.A computer program was developed by visual C++6.0 programming language to detect the cracks,which was tested by 15cases of bridge video images.The results indicate that the relative error is within 6%for cracks larger than 0.3 mm cracks and it is less than 10%for crack width between 0.2 mm and 0.3 mm.In addition,for the crack below 0.1 mm,the relative error is more than30%because the bridge is in safe stage and it is very difficult to detect the actual width of crack.

Real-Time Detection of Cracks on Concrete Bridge Decks Using Deep Learning in the Frequency Domain

This paper presents a vision-based crack detection approach for concrete bridge decks using an integrated one-dimensional convolutional neural network(1D-CNN)and long short-term memory(LSTM)method in the image frequency domain.The so-called 1D-CNN-LSTM algorithm is trained using thousands of images of cracked and non-cracked concrete bridge decks.In order to improve the training efficiency,images are first transformed into the frequency domain during a preprocessing phase.The algorithm is then calibrated using the flattened frequency data.LSTM is used to improve the performance of the developed network for long sequence data.The accuracy of the developed model is 99.05%,98.9%,and 99.25%,respectively,for training,validation,and testing data.An implementation framework is further developed for future application of the trained model for large-scale images.The proposed 1D-CNN-LSTM method exhibits superior performance in comparison with existing deep learning methods in terms of accuracy and computation time.The fast implementation of the 1D-CNN-LSTM algorithm makes it a promising tool for real-time crack detection.

Earthquake simulation test of circular reinforced concrete bridge column under multidirectional seismic excitation

Structures behave multi-directionally when subjected to earthquake excitation. Thus, it is essential to evaluate the effect of multidirectional loading on the dynamic response and seismic performance of reinforced concrete bridge columns in order to develop more advanced and reliable design procedures. To investigate such effects, a 1/4 scaled circular reinforced concrete bridge column specimen was tested under two horizontal and one vertical components of a strong motion that has long duration with several strong pulses. Damage progress of reinforced concrete columns subjected to strong excitation was evaluated from the test. The test results demonstrate that the lateral force response in the principal directions become smaller than computed flexural capacity due to the bilateral flexural loading effects, and that the lateral response is not significantly affected by the fluctuation of the axial force because the horizontal response and axial force barely reached the maximum simultaneously due to difference of the predominant natural periods between the vertical and the horizontal directions. Accuracy of fiber analyses is discussed using the test results.

Determination of initial cable force of cantilever casting concrete arch bridge using stress balance and influence matrix methods

Cantilever casting concrete arch bridge using form traveller has a broad application prospect.However,it is difficult to obtain reasonable initial cable force in construction stage.In this study,stress balance and influence matrix methods were developed to determine the initial cable force of cantilever casting concrete arch bridge.The stress balance equation and influence matrix of arch rib critical section were established,and the buckle cable force range was determined by the allowable stress of arch rib critical section.Then a group of buckle cable forces were selected and substituted into the stress balance equation,and the reasonable initial buckle cable force was determined through iteration.Based on the principle of force balance,the initial anchor cable force was determined.In an engineering application example,it is shown that the stress balance and influence matrix methods for the determination of initial cable force are feasible and reliable.The initial cable forces of arch rib segments only need to be adjusted once in the corresponding construction process,which improves the working efficiency and reduces the construction risk.It is found that the methods have great advantages for determining initial cable force in cantilever casting construction process of concrete arch bridge.

Numerical investigation of temperature gradient-induced thermal stress for steel–concrete composite bridge deck in suspension bridges

A3D finite element model(FEM)with realistic field measurements of temperature distributions is proposed to investigate the thermal stress variation in the steel–concrete composite bridge deck system.First,a brief literaturereview indicates that traditional thermal stress calculation in suspension bridges is based on the2D plane structure with simplified temperature profiles on bridges.Thus,a3D FEM is proposed for accurate stress analysis.The focus is on the incorporation of full field arbitrary temperature profile for the stress analysis.Following this,the effect of realistic temperature distribution on the structure is investigated in detail and an example using field measurements of Aizhai Bridge is integrated with the proposed3D FEM model.Parametric studies are used to illustrate the effect of different parameters on the thermal stress distribution in the bridge structure.Next,the discussion and comparison of the proposed methodology and simplified calculation method in the standard is given.The calculation difference and their potential impact on the structure are shown in detail.Finally,some conclusions and recommendations for future bridge analysis and design are given based on the proposed study.

Cellular Automata-based Chloride Ion Diffusion Simulation of Concrete Bridges under Multi-factor Coupling Actions

In order to accurately simulate the diffusion of chloride ion in the existing concrete bridge and acquire the precise chloride ion concentration at given time, a cellular automata （CA）-based model is proposed. The process of chloride ion diffusion is analyzed by the CA-based method and a nonlinear solution of the Fick＇s second law is obtained. Considering the impact of various factors such as stress states, temporal and spatial variability of diffusion parameters and water-cement ratio on the process of chloride ion diffusion, the model of chloride ion diffusion under multi-factor coupling actions is presented. A chloride ion penetrating experiment reported in the literature is used to prove the effectiveness and reasonability of the present method, and a T-type beam is taken as an illustrative example to analyze the process of chloride ion diffusion in practical application. The results indicate that CA-based method can simulate the diffusion of chloride ion in the concrete structures with acceptable precision.

Approach for analyzing the ultimate strength of concrete filled steel tubular arch bridges with stiffening girder

A convenient approach is proposed for analyzing the ultimate load carrying capacity of concrete filled steel tubular (CFST) arch bridge with stiffening girders. A fiber model beam element is specially used to simulate the stiffening girder and CFST arch rib. The geometric nonlinearity, material nonlinearity, influence of the construction process and the contribution of prestressing reinforcement are all taken into consideration. The accuracy of this method is validated by comparing its results with experimental results. Finally, the ultimate strength of an abnormal CFST arch bridge with stiffening girders is investigated and the effect of construction method is discussed. It is concluded that the construction process has little effect on the ultimate strength of the bridge.

Concrete-Filled Steel Tube Arch Bridges in China

In the past 20 years, great progress has been achieved in China in the construction of concrete-filled steel tube （CFST） arch bridges and concrete arch bridges with a CFST skeleton. The span of these bridges has been increasing rapidly, which is rare in the history of bridge development. The large-scale construction of expressways and high-speed railways demands the development of long-span arch bridges, and advances in design and construction techniques have made it possible to construct such bridges. In the present study, the current status, development, and major innovative technologies of CFST arch bridges and concrete arch bridges with a CFST skeleton in China are elaborated. This paper covers the key con- struction technologies of CFST arch bridges, such as the design, manufacture, and installation of steel tube arch trusses, the preparation and pouring of in-tube concrete, and the construction of the world＇s longest CFST arch bridge-the First Hejiang Yangtze River Bridge. The main construction technologies of rein- forced concrete arch bridges are also presented, which include cable-stayed fastening-hanging cantilever assembly, adjusting the load by means of stay cables, surrounding the concrete for arch rib pouring, and so forth. In addition, the construction of two CFST skeleton concrete arch bridges-the Guangxi Yongning Yong River Bridge and the Yunnan-Guangxi Railway Nanpan River Bridge--is discussed. CFST arch bridges in China have already gained a world-leading position; with the continuous innovation of key technologies, China will become the new leader in promoting the development of arch bridges.

Improved methods for decreasing stresses of concrete slab of large-span through tied-arch composite bridge

Mechanical behavior of concrete slab of large-span through tied-arch composite bridge was investigated by finite element analysis (FEA). Improved methods to decrease concrete stresses were discussed based on comparisons of different deck schemes, construction sequences and measures, and ratios of reinforcement. The results show that the mechanical behavior of concrete slab gets worse with the increase of composite regions between steel beams and concrete slab. The deck scheme with the minimum composite region is recommended on condition that both strength and stiffness of the bridge meet design demands under service loads. Adopting in-situ-place construction method, concrete is suggested to be cast after removing the full-supported frameworks under the bridge. Thus, the axial tensile force of concrete slab caused by the first stage dead load is eliminated. Preloading the bridge before concrete casting and removing the load after the concrete reaching its design strength, the stresses of concrete slab caused by the second stage dead load and live load are further reduced or even eliminated. At last, with a high ratio of reinforcement more than 3%, the concrete stresses decrease obviously.

Simplified full-depth precast concrete deck panel systems for accelerated bridge construction

A simplified full-depth precast concrete deck panel system for accelerating bridge construction （ABC） is introduced and a finite dement analysis （FEA） is con- ducted to investigate the static and dynamic responses of this conceptual deck system. The FEA results are compared to those of the traditional full-depth precast concrete deck panel system. The comparison results show that the mechanical behavior of the new deck system is different from that of the traditional deck system. The concrete decks in the new system act as two-way slabs, instead of the one-way slab in the traditional system. Meanwhile, the connections in both the longitudinal and transverse direc- tions may need to accommodate the negative moments. Compared to those in the traditional system, the longitu- dinal nominal stress at middle span increases a lot in the new deck system and the effective flange width varies significantly. In addition, the dynamic results show that the impact factor is influenced by the spacing of connections. Finally, some design concerns of the new deck system are proposed.

Time-dependent behavior comparison of long-span concrete arch bridge between prototype and model

Beipanjiang Bridge is a long-span concrete arch bridges with stiffened skeleton(CABSS)in China.It has a fixed end arch with the span of 445 m and the rise of 100 m.To evaluate the rationality of the construction sequence and the time-dependent behavior of CABSS,an experimental study of a model bridge was explored.But the measured displacement and stress ratios of arch rib between prototype and model bridge did not subject to linear similarity relation when the time-dependent behavior was considered.So,the three-dimensional finite element models were established,and verified by the measured data.Then,the displacements and stresses of the prototype and model were compared with each other,when the elastic analysis or coupling of temperature and shrinkage,creep effect was considered.Furthermore,a parametric study was studied.The results showed that when the temperature,shrinkage and creep effect of concrete are considered,the finite element analysis results of prototype and model agree well with the measured results.The displacement and stress ratios of prototype and model bridge in construction and bridge completed stage do not present the geometric similarity ratio 7.5 and 1.0,respectively.They are also much influenced by concrete predicting model and variation of temperature.