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Based on the shear flow theory for thin‐walled sections, a method for calculating the shear stress nonuniformity coefficient (µ) of a thin‐walled section is proposed according to the energy principle, and the formulas for calculating the µ values of several common sections are derived. The obtained µ value of a box section increases as the aspect ratio increases. Compared with commonly used calculation methods, the proposed method gives more reasonable results and shows that the effect of shear stress in the flange of the flat box section should not be ignored. The effects of the web and flange thicknesses on µ are analyzed and discussed. Based on these effects, a simplified method for calculating the µ value of complex box sections is presented, and this method is demonstrated to considerably reduce the calculation error and meet engineering needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Steel‐concrete composite box girders offer notable advantages such as high stiffness, excellent torsional performance, and light self‐weight, making them prevalent in large‐span bridges, particularly in cable‐stayed configurations. However, a persistent challenge arises from the shear lag effect in the concrete slab within the flanges induced by shearing interactions between the webs and flanges. Limited attention has been devoted to investigating the experimental and theoretical aspects of shear lag in long‐span cable‐stayed bridges with twin box‐shaped composite girders. This research addresses this gap by designing a segmental scale twin box‐shaped composite model specimen to simulate the cable spacing of the main girder in a cable‐stayed bridge, specifically targeting the shear‐lag effect. The study successfully captures the non‐uniform distribution of cross‐sectional strain in the top concrete slab. Subsequently, analytical strain solutions for the composite girder under mid‐span concentrated load and axial load are derived using the energy variation method. The theoretical model's applicability is then calibrated against experimental results. The investigation extends to the in‐situ testing of the Chibi Yangtze River Bridge, the world's largest steel‐concrete composite girder cable‐stayed bridge, boasting a main span of up to 720 m. An established finite element (FE) analysis model for the Chibi Yangtze River Bridge simulates the transverse stress distribution under typical construction conditions of CC6. Comparative analyses between the simulated results, calculated values from elementary beam theory, and the theoretical model against field‐measured values reveal that the FE model provides a more accurate estimation of the shear lag effect in the concrete slab. Notably, the FE model effectively reflects the bridge's characteristics and serves as a baseline for subsequent studies. This comprehensive investigation contributes significantly to the understanding and analysis of shear lag phenomena in twin box composite girders of cable‐stayed bridges. The integration of experimental, analytical, and construction site validations establishes robust tools for engineering design and the construction of safe and serviceable cable‐stayed bridges. The research augments knowledge regarding shear lag behavior and underscores the necessity to appropriately consider its effects in bridge analysis and design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents techniques used to observe the shear behaviour of modified Z-shaped concrete specimens, experimental results, and a method proposed to classify the shear cracking pattern of a concrete bridge based on acoustic emission (AE). Z-shaped specimens under shear were designed with steel plate reinforcement. A finite element (FE) model for this specimen was developed to validate the concrete crack propagation. AE parameters, including the peak amplitude, counts, cumulative energy, average frequency (AF) and rise angle (RA), were found to successfully correlate with the observed cracking process in the specimens. A cluster analysis based on the K-means algorithm was proposed to automatically classify the AE signal into tensile and shear clusters. An existing bridge underwent reinforcement and then testing under two test scenarios. AE signals were detected at the web of the bridge under heavy truck loads or full random traffic flows. Using the proposed crack classification showed that the signals from the bridge belonged to shear crack clusters characterized by lower AE energy. Thus, this work developed an AE method to classify cracks in concrete shear tests and extended the method to classify the shear cracks in a bridge to provide an early warning of future failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By applying two elastically supporting styles, the elastic supports beam (ESB) and elastic foundation beam (EFB) are proposed to simulate the underwater submerged floating tunnel (SFT) under hinged boundaries. Their equivalence is investigated through the frequencies/modes and forced responses caused by equidistant moving loads. The ESB model is built by regarding each tether as an elastic support and using the novel isolating/assembling technique between beam-segments and global tube, and the order of characteristic matrix for any number of intermediate elastic supports is reduced to 4 × 4. Then, the stiffness of all elastic supports and the uniformity/non-uniformity are well considered in the ESB model. The governing equations of the EFB model with a uniform linear elastic support are also given. The newly discovered results, which are verified by the finite element method (FEM), indicate the merging phenomena appear in the frequency spectrum in the ESB model. The equivalence holds for some uniform cases in the ESB model based on the peak values of responses by using the stiffness relationship and a correction coefficient, whereas the equivalence does not exist for the uneven case of elastic supports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To analytically measure the vibratory characteristics of the cable-stayed bridge with beam-tower constraint during the dual-cantilever erection, the isolating/assembling technique is used to derive the global equation. Eigen-equation governing the frequencies/modes is obtained by applying the coefficients vectors transferring between adjacent cable-beams and the boundary/matching conditions. An illustrative example of the dual-cantilever erection system is given to verify the effectiveness of the analytical method by comparing with the finite element method. The influences of the vertical/rotational beam-tower constraint stiffness and the beam/cable relative stiffness on the frequencies/modes are studied; the sensitive interval and unstable/veering regions in frequency spectrum are ascertained. The twin frequencies are analytically measured and it is found that the symmetry plays a fundamental role in its existence and distribution range. The measuring method supplies reference for similar cable-supported structures; the results provide suggestions to avoid unstable/veering zone depending on the designed parameters combination in cable-stayed bridge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An optimization method of temperature measurement point layout for steel-concrete composite bridges based on the total least squares improved piecewise Douglas–Peucker (TLS-IPDP) algorithm was proposed to solve the problem that the traditional temperature measurement data cannot reflect the actual temperature gradient (TG) due to the position of measurement points on different paths is not reasonable. The characteristic curves of TG for the most unfavorable period and annual period are extracted from the finite element model. The rationality of the proposed method is illustrated by two typical steel-concrete composite beams with steel plates and steel boxes. By improving the classical Douglas–Peucker (DP) algorithm, the TLS-IPDP algorithm proposed in this paper has a better approximation effect on the original data. Compared with the traditional temperature measuring point arrangement method, the TLS-IPDP algorithm optimized arrangement in this paper realized the measuring point arrangement with different variable spacing under different paths; the temperature gradient curve obtained was closer to the real temperature distribution, and had higher accuracy in the region with a large gradient. In addition, the proposed method has the function of manually specifying the location of feature points and reserving the required number. The optimized arrangement of measuring points can meet the requirements of measuring points number and measurement accuracy. The method presented in this paper can provide a useful reference for temperature data acquisition and sensor layout for health monitoring of steel-composite bridges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A probabilistic fatigue life prediction framework for concrete bridges is proposed in this study that considers the stress history from the construction stage to the operation stage. The proposed fatigue analysis framework combines the fatigue crack growth-based material life prediction model and a nonlinear structural analysis method. A reliability analysis is proposed using the developed probabilistic model to consider various uncertainties associated with the fatigue damage. A Bayesian network is established to predict the fatigue life of a concrete bridge according to the proposed framework. The proposed methodology is demonstrated using an experimental example for fatigue life prediction of a concrete box-girder. Comparison with experimental data of fatigue life shows a satisfactory accuracy using the proposed methodology, and the ratio of the posterior predicted mean (updating time n = 8) to the test value decreases to 33%–1% in the current investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]