Effects of Flexural Stiffness on Deformation Behaviour of Steel and FRP Stress-Ribbon Bridges

Abstract

Stress-ribbon systems develop the most flexible and slender bridges. A structural system of such elegant bridges consists of cables or ribbons and deck slabs placed to these strips to distribute the live load. Although this structural system is simple, the design of such structures is a challenging issue. Design limitations of the bridge deck slope induce considerable forces in the ribbons, which transfer the tension to massive foundations. The deformation increase under concentrated and asymmetrical loads causes another problem of stress-ribbon bridges—the kinematic component, the design object of such structures, exceeds the dead load-induced vertical displacement several times. This paper introduces a new concept of such a structural system, comprising ribbons made of flexural-stiff profiles. The proposed approach to reduce kinematic displacements is illustrated experimentally by testing two pedestrian bridge prototypes with different flexural stiffness of the steel ribbons. Numerical models calibrated using the test results are used for the parametric analysis of the flexural stiffness effect on the deformation behaviour of the bridge system with steel and fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) ribbons. A practical approach to the choice of the efficient flexural stiffness of the ribbon-profiles is also proposed.

Analysing the Confinement Effect in Hollow Core Steel-Concrete Composite Columns under Axial Compression

“…That is a consequence of the simplified material model of the steel specified in the Atena software. The study [ 32 ] supports this inference.…”

Developing a hybrid FRP-concrete composite beam

“…The structural scheme (Fig. 1 ) employs the stress-ribbon bridge concept 15 , 30 to develop the hybrid beam. In such a way, the concrete provides a reliable connection with the GFRP profile on the supports.…”

“…This study presents a novel design concept of the hybrid beam system comprising the synthetic fiber-reinforced concrete slab and pultruded FRP profile fixed on the supports. Adapting the stress-ribbon structural approach 15 , 30 allows for solving the bond issue and applying the simplified numerical model, assuming the perfect bond between the composite components. The considered case exemplifies the design of the hybrid systems (Fig.…”

“…Although hybrid composite systems are applicable for bridge engineering 13 – 15 , the uncertainty of the inter-component bonding properties complicates developing these innovative structures. The typical solution focuses on local bond improvement, employing FRP profile perforation and mechanical anchorage systems, e.g., Mendes et al 16 and Zhang et al 17 .…”

“…In contrast, this study employs the stress-ribbon bridge solution to create the hybrid beam prototype, combining the polymeric fiber-reinforced concrete (PFRC) slab and pultruded FRP profile. However, the proposed structural system does not require massive supports typical for the stress-ribbon systems 15 because of the combination of the concrete, resisting the compressive load induced by the glass-fiber-reinforced profile (GFRP) distributed in the tension zone of the flexural element. Furthermore, the reliable profile fixation to the supports ensures the composite behavior of the hybrid beam.…”