Interaction of plastic hinges in prestressed concrete bridges with corrugated steel webs

Abstract

Prestressed concrete bridges with corrugated steel webs have emerged as one of the promising bridge forms. However, the presence of prestressing tendons and shear-deformable corrugated steel webs with negligible axial stiffness complicates the formation of plastic hinges under applied loading to failure. The full-range structural behaviour of these bridges and plastic hinge formation are therefore studied experimentally and numerically. The more localised flange plastic hinge caused by both web shear deformation and local flange bending interacts with the full-depth plastic hinge of such a bridge. Tests show that the full-range structural behaviour of the bridge is mainly governed by the localised flange plastic hinges. A formula is proposed to predict the equivalent interactive plastic hinge length, which helps to predict the full-range structural behaviour taking into account the presence of external prestressing tendons. Some design recommendations are also provided.