Strengthening of non-composite bridges by Partial Composite Action

Sammanfattning: A common bridge type is the steel-concrete bridge where the concrete deck is built over steel girders. In many earlier designs the bridge type was often built as non-composite, which means that the concrete deck and the steel girder has no shear connection at the steel-concrete interface and therefore bend as individual components. With the increased traffic loads of today some of the existing non-composite bridges have insufficient bending capacity, and therefore they must either be replaced or strengthened. To replace a bridge and construct a new one has many downsides, it is time consuming, expensive, and it consumes a lot of finite resources. Therefore, it is better if the bridges could be strengthened instead. Non-composite steel-concrete bridges can in some cases be strengthened by installing shear connectors that enable composite action between the concrete deck and steel girder. To enable full composite action, many shear connectors need to be installed (10-15 per meter). In some cases, full composite action is not needed to achieve a sufficient load capacity. Therefore, to save time and money and reduce material usage, it could be favourable if the amount of shear connectors could be lowered. The concept of using less shear connectors than required for full composite action is known as partial composite action and is defined as a ratio η that can vary between 0 and 1,0. If the ratio is 0, the structure is non-composite and if it is 1,0, it is fully composite. For every ratio between, the structure is partially composite. Partial composite action is not allowed by the standard for new composite bridges in Europe, EN 1994-2, which instead requires full composite action for new bridges. Since the conventional shear connector type, Welded Headed Stud (WHS) is impractical for post-installation this can yield large costs. This thesis therefore analyses the efficiency of strengthening non-composite bridges with partial composite action by post-installation of the shear connector type Coiled Spring Pins (CSPs), which is more suitable for post-installation compared to WHS since the installation can be made from underneath the bridge deck. The thesis consists of a theoretical study about composite action with a focus on partial composite action. In addition to the theoretical study, a case study is performed on an existing non-composite steel-concrete bridge, the bridge over Yxlö channel, which is situated south of Stockholm in Nynäshamn municipality. In the case study, hand-calculations to calculate the moment capacity for the bridge and the bending stresses in the bridge is made. In addition, a linear Finite Element-analysis (FE-Analysis) is made to evaluate the bending stresses in the cross-section. Further, in the FE-analysis, the horizontal slip and shear flow at the steel-concrete interface is evaluated. The calculations in the case study are made for 10 different degrees of shear connection from 0 - 1,0 with increments of 0,1. The results from the hand-calculations showed that partial composite action an efficient strengthening method, especially for lower degrees of shear connection. The moment capacity in the mid-section of the bridge could be increased between 16 and 41 % for shear connection ratios between 0,4 and 1,0, when applying plastic properties. If elastic properties were used, the increase in moment capacity for the same interval and section was 13 – 21 %, which shows that if it is possible to use plastic properties, the moment capacity could be increased more.  The results from the stress analysis in both the Hand- and FE-calculations showed that the stresses were reduced efficiently, especially for the top flange of the steel girder, where the stresses reduced 75-85 % for shear connection ratios between 0,4 & 1,0. The reduction of the stresses in the bottom flange were not as efficient, but still a reduction of 15 – 20 % is possible for shear connection ratio between 0,4 – 1,0. The overall conclusion from the thesis is that partial composite action can be an efficient strengthening method, and that non-composite bridges like the Yxlö Bridge could be strengthened with CSPs and have an effective increase of the bending moment capacity. This way the allowed axle- and bogie load on the bridge could be increased which could extend the technical life length of the bridge and reduce the need for new bridges.