Live load distribution on highway bridges is a key response quantity in determining member size and, consequently, strength and serviceability. It is of critical importance both in the design of new bridges and in the evaluation of the load carrying capacity of existing bridges.
Live load distribution is a function of the magnitude and location of truck live loads and the response of the bridge to these loads.
The construction of the Millau viaduct in the southeast of France was a colossal engineering effort. The piers rise 803 feet from ground level, and the bridge weighs 400,000 tons.
The bridge is supported by seven huge pillars. When the thickness of the platform (14 feet) and the height of the pillars are included, the total height reaches 1102 feet. That is about 50 feet higher than the famous Eiffel Tower.
Construction of this bridge required more than 350,000 tons of concrete and 40,000 tons of steel. Assembled with the precision of a Swiss watch, this giant was designed to resist winds of up to 130 miles per hour and has cost almost 300 million euros (US$523 million).
Built across the mountainous terrain of the Tarn river valley, the 8071-foot long bridge is part of the A-75 freeway that connects the cities of Clermont-Ferrand and Béziers. It will shorten by more than 60 miles the route connecting Paris with the Mediterranean.
Seven European countries participated in construction of the bridge, the design of which was the work of the prestigious British architect, Sir Norman Foster, of Manchester, England.
A column is generally referred to a vertical member designed to resist mainly compression. In building construction, columns are usually constructed monolithically with beams to form an integral structural frame. Hence, a column will inevitably, in addition to compression, have to take up bending moment transmitted from beams to which it is connected.
Therefore, unlike beam section, which is designed solely for bending, column section has to be designed for combined action of axial compression, N, and moment, M. In this chapter, the basic assumptions for beam in Chapter 2 will be adopted to derive the design charts for column, and then you will learn how to make use of these design charts to design column sections and then extend this method to design R C walls.
AXIAL AND LATERAL LOAD PILES ( FEM )
Calculation Reference
Geotechnics
Beam Analysis with FEM Excel Sheet is an application of MS-Excel “Solver” to Non-linear Beam Analysis written by Toshimi Taki Prepared on March 4, 2007
There are some types of beam structures as shown in figure 1.
Figure 1 : Types of Beam Structures
If beam elements of “simple beam” structures are subject to lateral load only, this type of beam structure shows linear behaviour. “Simple beam” structures can be analysed easily. When beam elements in a beam structure are subject to lateral load and axial load, the structure shows non-linear behaviour.
The examples of the non-linear beam problems are beam columns, Elastica and arch structures. Analytical method is applicable only to idealized structures such as uniform cross section beam column.
You need to use non-linear finite element analysis to solve non-linear beam structures in real world. I have developed a new method to solve non-linear beam structures.
This is a direct application of energy principle using MS-Excel “Solver”. Application of MS-Excel “Solver” to Non-linear Beam Analysis “Elastica” is used as an example to show the method. Following figures show the results.
Figure 2 : Model for Elastica
Figure 3 : Result — Deflection
Figure 4 : Result — Load-Deflection Curve
This course has been prepared assuming that the students who enroll in this course are completely new to this software. The main purpose of this course is to make the students familiar with the SAP2000 so that they can easily take the higher level courses without having confusions.
Basic level of knowledge is given in this course as this course is for complete beginners.
DESIGN CRITERIA
1. Base isolator system can reduce seismic loads by increasing the period/reducing the stiffness of structure. But the building wind loads are the same without change. So not all structures are adequate for base isolator system, with both seismic and wind limits.
2. The period of fixed-base structure and building wind load can be calculated by 3D finite element method (FEM) and spreadsheets.
But it is very difficult to use finite elements modeling isolators, since damping and isolator stiffness matrix. This design method, using building effective stiffness concept for entire structure and isolated system, to check if the structure is adequate for base isolator system. If adequate, users can select and test isolated system by wind loads to drift limits (ASCE 7-16/10 17.2.4.2 & 17.5.6).
