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.

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.

Experimental investigation of axially loaded steel fiber reinforced high strength concrete-filled steel tube columns

An experimental study on the compressive behavior of steel fiber reinforced concrete-filled steel tube columns is presented. Specimens were tested to investigate the effects of the concrete strength, the thickness of steel tube and the steel fiber volume fraction on the ultimate strength and the ductility. The experimental results indicate that the addition of steel fibers in concrete can significantly improve the ductility and the energy dissipation capacity of the concrete-filled steel tube columns and delay the local buckling of the steel tube, but has no obvious effect on the failure mode. It has also been found that the addition of steel fibers is a more effective method than using thicker steel tube in enhancing the ductility, and more advantageous in the case of higher strength concrete. An analytical model to estimate the load capacity is proposed for steel tube columns filled with both plain concrete and steel fiber reinforced concrete. The predicted results are in good agreement with the experimental ones obtained in this work and literatures.

Seismic performance of recycled concrete-filled square steel tube columns

An experimental study on the seismic performance of recycled concrete-filled square steel tube （RCFST） columns is carried out. Six specimens were designed and tested under constant axial compression and cyclic lateral loading. Two parameters, replacement percentage of recycled coarse aggregate （RCA） and axial compression level, were considered in the test. Based on the experimental data, the hysteretic loops, skeleton curves, ductility, energy dissipation capacity and stiffness degradation of RCFST columns were analyzed. The test results indicate that the failure modes of RCFST columns are the local buckling of the steel tube at the bottom of the columns, and the hysteretic loops are full and their shapes are similar to normal CFST columns. Furthermore, the ductility coefficient of all specimens are close to 3.0, and the equivalent viscous damping coefficient corresponding to the ultimate lateral load ranges from 0.323 to 0.360, which demonstrates that RCFST columns exhibit remarkable seismic performance.

Axial Compression Behavior and Analytical Method of L-Shaped Column Composed of Concrete-Filled Square Steel Tubes

Based on the characteristics of an L-shaped column composed of concrete-filled square steel tubes, the axial compression experiment and nonlinear finite element analysis were carried out to study the mechanical property of the L-shaped column. The load-displacement curve for the L-shaped column, the deflection and load-strain curves for the mono columns were obtained by the axial compression experiment. The results show that the L-shaped column exhibits a flexural-torsional buckling failure mode. The numerical simulation by the finite element analysis shows that the bearing capacity and failure mode are in accordance with those of the axial compression experiment and the feasi- bility of the finite element analysis is proved. For the calculation of the bearing capacity of the L-shaped column com- posed of concrete-filled square steel tubes, an analytical method is proposed based on the theory of the elastic stability and spatial truss model. The results of the analytical method are in good agreement with those of the axial compression experiment and the finite element analysis.

Effect of contact thermal resistance on temperature distributions of concrete-filled steel tubes in fire

To predicate the temperature distribution of concrete-filled steel tubes(CFSTs) being exposure to fire,a finite element analysis model was developed using a finite element package,ANSYS.A suggested value of contact thermal resistance was therefore proposed with the supporting of massive numbers of collected test data.Parametric analysis was conducted subsequently towards the cross-sectional temperature distribution of CFST columns in four-side fire,in which the exposure time,width of the cross section,steel ratio were taken into account with considering contact thermal resistance.It was found that contact thermal resistance has little effect on the overall temperature regulation with the exposure time,the width of cross-section or the change of steel ratio.However,great temperature dropping at the concrete adjacent to the contact interface,and gentle temperature increase at steel tube,exist if considering contact thermal resistance.The results of the study are expected to provide theoretical basis for the fire resistance behavior and design of the CFST columns being exposure to fire.

Bending behaviour of lightweight aggregate concrete-filled steel tube spatial truss beam

A lightweight aggregate concrete-filled steel tube(LACFST) spatial truss beam was tested under bending load. The performance was studied by the analysis of the beam deflection and strains in its chords and webs. According to the test results, several assumptions were made to deduce the bearing capacity calculation method based on the force balance of the whole section. An optimal dimension relationship for the truss beam chords was proposed and verified by finite element analysis. Results show that the LACFST spatial truss beam failed after excessive deflection. The strain distribution agreed with Bernoulli-Euler theoretical prediction. The truss beam flexural bearing capacity calculation results matched test evidence with only a 3% difference between the two. Finite element analyses with different chord dimensions show that the ultimate bearing capacity increases as the chord dimensions increase when the chords have a diameter smaller than optimal one; otherwise, it remains almost unchanged as the chord dimensions increase.

Application of Compactness Detection to Complicated Concrete-Filled Steel Tube by Ultrasonic Method

An example of using ultrasonic method to detect the compactness of complicated concrete-filled steel tube in certain high-rise building was discussed in this study.Because of the particularity of the complicated concrete-filled steel tubular column,the plane detection method and embedded sounding pipe method were adopted in the process of effectively detecting the column.According to the results of the plane detection method and embedded sounding pipe method,the cementing status of steel tube and concrete can be concluded,which cannot be judged by the hammering method in the rectangular steel tube-reinforced concrete.

Reliability analysis of circular concrete-filled steel tube with material and geometrical nonlinearity

Most of the previous research on concrete-filled steel tube is restricted to a deterministic approach. To gain clear insight into the random properties of circular concrete-filled steel tube, reliability analysis is carried out in the present study. To obtain the Structural nonlinear response and ultimate resistance capacity, material and geometrical nonlinear analysis of circular concrete-filled steel tube is performed with a three-dimensional degenerated beam ele- ment. Then we investigate the reliability of concrete-filled steel tube using the first-order reliability method combined with nonlinear finite element analysis. The influences of such parameters as material strength, slenderness, initial geo- metrical imperfection, etc. on the reliability of circular concrete-filled steel tube column are studied. It can be con- cluded that inevitable random fluctuation of those parameters has significant influence on structural reliability, and that stochastic or reliability methods can provide a more rational and subjective evaluation on the safety of CFT structures than a deterministic approach.

A new calculation method for axial load capacity of separated concrete-filled steel tubes based on limit equilibrium theory

A new calculation method for axial load capacity of separated concrete-filled steel tubes based on limit equilibrium theory was proposed,which took into account the decrease of confinement effect by steel tube and the non-uniform distribution of ultimate stress in cored concrete.The accuracy of the analytical result is validated through running the numerical result by finite element method (FEM) and experimental data as well.The influences of the key parameters on the load capacity of the concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) was studied,including the separation ratio,concrete compressive strength,and steel strength.The results indicate that the load capacity of the tube increases with concrete strength and steel strength under the separation ratio less than 4%,while decreases with a higher separation ratio improved.

Experimental study on centrifugal concrete-filled steel tubes under bending and torsion

A real-size experiment on 11 tubes was done to study the performance o f centrifugal concrete-filled steel tubes under bending and torsion. This pape r first introduces the relevant operating method,equipment,subjects and process es. The factors that affect deformation and stiffness and the break mechanism un der different loading were studied. Experimental stress analysis showed that the values of practical critical stress of steel tubes accorded well with the MISES Yielding Rule. The correlative equation (on the bearing capacity of a structura l member under bending and torsion) deduced in this study may provide valuable reference for the design of this structural member.

Ductility and Ultimate Capacity of Concrete-Filled Lattice Rectangular Steel Tube Columns

A kind of concrete-filled lattice rectangular steel tube(CFLRST)column was put forward.The numerical simulation was modeled to analyze the mechanical characteristic of CFLRST column.By comparing the load-deformation curves from the test results,the rationality and reliability of the finite element model has been confirmed,moreover,the change of the section stiffness and stress in the forcing process and the ultimate bearing capacity of the column were analyzed.Based on the model,the comparison of ultimate bearing capacity and ductility between CFLRST column and reinforced concrete(RC)column were also analyzed.The results of the finite element analysis show that the loading process of CFLRST column consists of elastic stage,yield stage and failure stage.The failure modes are mainly strength failure and failure of elastoplastic instability.CFLRST column has higher bearing capacities in comparison with reinforced concrete columns with the same steel ratio.In addition,the stiffness degeneration of CFLRST column is slower than RC column and CFLRST column has good ductility.

Prediction of Axial Capacity of Concrete-Filled Square Steel Tubes Using Neural Networks

The application of artificial neural network to predict the ultimate bearing capacity of CFST （ concrete-filled square steel tubes） short columns under axial loading is explored. Input parameters consiste of concrete compressive strength, yield strength of steel tube, confinement index, sectional dimension and width-to-thickness ratio. The ultimate bearing capacity is the only output parameter. A multilayer feedforward neural network is used to describe the nonlinear relationships between the input and output variables. Fifty-five experimental data of CFST short columns under axial loading are used to train and test the neural network. A comparison between the neural network model and three parameter models shows that the neural network model possesses good accuracy and could be a practical method for predicting the ultimate strength of axially loaded CFST short columns.

Axial Bearing Capacity of Short FRP Confined Concrete-filled Steel Tubular Columns

The bearing capacity of FRP confined concrete-filled steel tubular （FRP-CFST） columns under axial compression was investigated. This new type of composite column is a concrete-filled steel tube （CFST） confined with fiber-reinforced polymer （FRP） wraps. Totally 11 short column specimens were tested to failure under axial compression. The influences of the type and quantity of FRP, the thickness of steel tube and the concrete strength were studied. It was found that the bearing capacity of short FRP-CFST column was much higher than that of comparable CFST column. Furthermore, the formulas for calculating the bearing capacity of the FRP-CFST columns are proposed. The analytical calculated results agree well with the experimental results.

Behavior of High Strength Concrete Filled Square Steel Tube Stub Columns with Inner CFRP Tube Under Biaxial Eccentric Compression

This paper studies the contribution of CFRP(carbon fiber-reinforced polymer)to the mechanical behavior of high strength concrete-filled square steel tube(HCFST)under biaxial eccentric compression.The new type of composite member is composed of an inner CFRP tube and an outer steel tube with concrete filled in the two tubes.The finite element analysis was made by ABAQUS on the behavior of high strength concrete filled square steel tubular columns with inner CFRP circular tube subjected to bi-axial eccentric loading.The results obtained from the finite element analysis were verified with the experimental results.In addition,the load-deflection curves in the whole process were calculated and analyzed,which can be divided into three segments:Elastic phase,plastic phase,descending phase.Based on the load-deflection curves,the stresses analysis on the core concrete,CFRP tube and steel tube were conducted.The confinement effect of the CFRP tube improves the ductility of HCFST-CFRP stub column.CFRP ratio and eccentricity affect the ultimate bearing capacity of HCFST stub column.Finally,a calculation formula of ultimate bearing capacity was proposed in the paper.

Expansive Performance of Self-stressing and Self-compacting Concrete Confined with Steel Tube

Combining with the technology of self-compacting concrete, self-stressing concrete and concrete-filled steel tube, we can get self-compacting and self-stressing concrete-filled steel tube. In order to study the expansive mechanism of self-stressing concrete, the continuous observation of 47 days on six specimens was carried on. The specimens have different steel area to concrete area ratio. The expansive process in hoop and axial direction were studied, and the expansive mechanism was discussed too. The experimental results identify that the creep and elastic deformation take a large proportion in effective free expansion. The calculating formulas of self-stress in hoop and axial directions were presented here.

瓮马铁路乌江特大桥设计关键技术研究

新建瓮马铁路乌江特大桥跨越两山之间深谷,地形复杂、设计难度大。为研究该桥梁方案,首先阐述了主桥的方案构思和结构设计,然后通过空间有限元软件对本桥进行静、动力仿真分析,总结了大跨铁路劲性骨架混凝土拱桥构造和受力特性。结果表明:主跨337 m上承式劲性骨架混凝土拱桥具有刚度大、徐变小、后期养护维修工作量小等优点,主拱圈采用小矢跨比设计,兼顾安全、经济、环保和美观,能够满足铁路桥梁跨越山区“V”形峡谷的要求;主拱圈由劲性钢管混凝土骨架外包C55无收缩混凝土构成,通过分层分段浇筑方案改善拱圈各构件的内力;拱上结合梁采用两片工字形钢与混凝土桥面板相结合的形式,钢梁栓焊结合,便于制造、运输和施工;拱座采用梯形断面扩大基础,基础开挖永临结合,有效降低施工风险;数值分析表明该桥结构的刚度、强度、稳定性均能满足规范要求,能够满足客货共线铁路的安全性和乘坐舒适性要求。可为其他山区铁路桥梁桥式研究提供参考。

通气孔对新型不锈钢芯管平压性能影响分析

不锈钢芯管作为不锈钢桥面芯板的重要传力构件,其平压力学性能与桥面板承载能力息息相关。因钎焊工艺要求,不锈钢芯管壁上开设有双通气圆孔。为研究双通气圆孔对不锈钢芯管平压性能的影响,开展2组不同厚度不锈钢芯管平压性能试验与有限元非线性屈曲分析。通过试验结果验证采用Riks弧长法进行不锈钢芯管非线性屈曲分析方法的正确性。并考虑圆孔直径d、偏心距e、芯管壁厚t等因素,建立不同规格不锈钢芯管模型,开展非线性屈曲分析,探究多参数协同作用下对不锈钢芯管平压性能的影响分析。研究结果表明:不锈钢芯管平压试验曲线表现出明显的非线性特征,分为弹性阶段、弹塑性阶段与塑性破坏阶段;通气孔、管端扳边处转角及管脚10 mm处易优先出现局部屈曲破坏;不锈钢芯管极限荷载Pu及其对应的压缩位移δ_(u)随孔径d、偏心距e的增加而减小,随壁厚t增加而增大;芯管极限荷载Pu受孔径d的影响大于受偏心距e的影响,增大孔径使芯管极限荷载Pu下降6.00%~15.51%,而增大偏心距使芯管极限荷载Pu下降0.64%~9.22%,芯管应规避在管身中部(e/H=0.5)开孔;当孔径比d/D≯0.04、偏心比e/H≯0.3时,通气孔对芯管极限承载力影响较小,对极限荷载下的压缩位移δ_(u)不产生影响,建议将其作为通气孔设计取值。研究中获得的临界值及变化规律可用于新型不锈钢桥面芯板结构设计与优化研究。

曲线条件大跨度拱加劲连续梁设计

贵南高铁二塘双线特大桥采用90m+180m+90m拱加劲连续梁结构。大桥位于曲线上,梁体采用分段直线布置,悬灌施工;主拱采用哑铃形钢管混凝土拱肋,钢管直径1 m,拱肋全高3 m;采用整束挤压钢绞线吊杆,全桥拱设置36组吊杆;纵向活动主墩通过构造措施,形成半刚构结构体系,限制部分梁体问题伸缩变形;大桥采用先悬灌主梁,后在主梁上搭设支架原位拼装拱肋方式施工。经论文研究计算结果表明,该桥刚度、受力等均满足规范要求。

设置钢管灌浆阻尼器的RSC双层排架墩抗震性能分析

为实现双层桥梁排架墩地震损伤控制设计,提出上层排架采用摇摆-自复位(Rocking Self-Centering,RSC)体系、下层排架不摇摆的双层桥梁排架墩设计思路,并采用钢管灌浆阻尼器(Steel-tube Grout Damper,SGD)提升摇摆接缝处的耗能能力。基于OpenSees数值分析平台分别建立了SGD和外置SGD的RSC双层排架墩抗震数值分析模型,结合试验结果验证了SGD和RSC排架墩建模方法的准确性。选取7条近断层地震动记录,基于增量动力分析(Incremental Dynamic Analysis,IDA)手段,研究外置SGD的RSC双层排架墩的地震反应。研究结果表明,当PGA为0.1 g时,SGD开始屈服耗能;当PGA为0.4 g时,SGD最大变形为名义极限变形的53.44%,无粘结预应力筋最大应力为名义屈服强度的59.60%;当PGA为0.8 g时,SGD接近拉断,预应力筋最大应力为名义屈服强度的84.78%;与耗能角钢相比,SGD变形及耗能能力更强,在强震作用下更不易发生拉断破坏。