China-Japan Joint Seminar on Steel and Composite Bridges 85

Design Issues for Steel-Concrete Composite Girders

Y. Okui
Saitama University, Saitama, Japan

ABSTRACT: Recent studies on steel-concrete composite girders in Japan are reviewed.

Those includes construction procedure of 2-I girder continuous composite bridges, time-
dependent behavior, crack-width control design procedure, and flexural strength of composite
sections.

1 INTRODUCTION

Recent rapid development in composite girder bridges in Japan can be traced back to Chi-
dorinosawagawa bridge constructed in 1998. This bridge is the first composite two I girder
continuous composite bridges with a prestress concrete (PC) slab. Before then, from 1980 to
1998, almost all steel bridges with reinforcement concrete (RC) slabs were designed as a non-
composite girder and the lateral distance between steel girders was restricted within 3m, be-
cause non-composite girders bridges provide facilities for easy replacement of RC slabs in
partial service, and the restriction on RC deck span was expected to reduce damage of RC
slabs. Another feature of bridges in this period is to be designed as the material weight mini-
mum. To this end, many stiffeners as well as secondary members, such as lateral bracing and
diaphragms, were employed.

On the other hand, the design policy for the new type of composite bridges is completely dif-
ferent and that is to pursue economical efficiency. In Japan, labor costs increased more sub-
stantially than material costs in the last 20 years. In order to pursue economical efficiency, re-
duction of manufacturing costs is more essential. To this end, the number of members are
reduced and two I girder system is adopted in recent composite bridges. Furthermore, secon-
dary members such as lateral bracing are removed or simplified as much as possible.

In this paper, recent research topics reflecting the above back ground are introduced. Re-
search relating to dynamic and fatigue problems of composite girders are excluded in this pa-
per.

2 CONSTRUCTION OF CONTINUOUS COMPOSITE 2-I GIRDER BRIDGE AND

TIME-DEPENDENT BEHAVIOR

In this section, we introduce construction of Chidorinosawagawa bridge (Nagai et al. 2000),

which is the first recent 2-I girder continuous composite bridges in Japan. Then, a related re-
search on time-dependent behavior will be explained. Chidorinosawagawa bridge is 4 spans
continuous composite 2-I girder bridge as shown in Fig. 1.
86 China-Japan Joint Seminar on Steel and Composite Bridges

194
46.45 53 53 40.4

P1 P2 P3
A1 A2

11.4

2.9

5.7

Figure 1. Side View and Cross Section of Chidorinosawagawa Bridge (unit: m)

2.1 Stages of Constriction

In construction of Chidorinosawagawa bridge, first the launching erection for steel girders is
carried out, then the concrete slab is cast in situ segmentally with a movable form. This con-
struction procedure has become a stan- 9m 3@15=45 13 1 13 15 1 12 13 15 12 12 9
dard construction procedure for con-
tinuous 2-I girder bridges since then. 3 2 1 6 5 4 7 10 9 8 11 14 12 13 15

Figure 2 illustrates the sequence of the

A1 P1 P2 P3 A2
segmental concrete casting. The num-
a) Sequence of concrete casting
bers in Fig. 6(a) are the order of con-
crete casting and the lengths of seg-
160mm UP
ments. Jack-up and down of interior
supports was carried out to introduce
DOWN
compressive prestress into the concrete
slab near interior supports. Amounts of
jack-up and down and sequence are 120mm UP
also presented in Fig. 6(b).
DOWN
Figure 3 shows concrete casting with
the movable from, which serves as a 120mm UP
movable platform as well. The struc-
tural analysis has to cover the effect of DOWN
stage construction including steel
b) Jack up and down method
member and wholly or partially com-
posite members.
Figure 2. Segmental Concrete Casting and Jack up and
down to Introduce Prestress into Concrete Slab
near Interior Supports
 China-Japan Joint Seminar on Steel and Composite Bridges 87

Figure 3. Concrete Casting with Movable Form at Chidorinosawagawa Bridge

2.2 Time-dependent behavior

In this example, the jack up/down is employed to avoid tensile cracking of concrete slab near
interior supports. The amount of the jack up/down has to be determined in view of loss of the
prestress caused by the creep and shrinkage. To assess the prestress loss, the time-dependent
analysis following the construction stages was carried out. Figure 4 shows the FE model used
in the time-dependent construction stage analysis. The concrete slab and steel girders are
model with different beam elements. The creep behavior in the concrete element is modeled
as viscoelasticity with the Kelvin chain model (TNO, 1996).

Figure 5 shows predicted time-dependent variation of the prestresses (compressive normal

stresses), which was initially introduced by the jack up/down procedures at the interior sup-
ports P1, P2 and P3. Due to the creep and shrinkage effects, they gradually decrease, and con-
verge at about ten years later. The prestress loss due to creep and shrinkage is around 50% of
the initial stress.

Steel
girder
A2
Concrete P3
slab
P2 Rigid
element
Crosse
P1 beam
A1
Figure 4. FE Model for Construction Stage Analysis and Time-Dependent Analysis
due to Creep and Shrinkage.

To verify the analytical prediction, the stress in the steel girder at support P1 was monitored
for one and half year after completion. Figure 6 shows a comparison of measured and analyti-
cal results of the steel stress at P1. Although the monitoring stresses are scattered by nature
owing to temperature effect and so on, both calculated and measured values show a good
agreement after 300 days. From this result, it is confirmed the expected prestress was intro-
duced by assuming approximately 50% of prestress loss.
88 China-Japan Joint Seminar on Steel and Composite Bridges

Stress in concrete slab

0.0
-0.5
-1.0

σ (MPa)
-1.5
-2.0
P1
-2.5
P2
-3.0 P3
-3.5
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500

Time (days)
Figure 5. Reduction of Concrete Prestress due to Creep and Shrinkage at Interior Support.

Stress in steel girder

150 U. Flg. (Measured)
L. Flg. (Measured)
125
U. Flg. (Analysis)
100
L. Flg. (Analysis)
σ (MPa)

75

50

25

0
-25

-50
0 100 200 300 400 500

Time (days)
Figure 6. Comparison between Analytical Results and Monitoring Data;
Time Variation of Stress in Steel Girder at Support P1.

3 CRACK WIDTH CONTROL

In the previous chapter, the Jack up/down procedure is employed to prevent excessive crack-
ing in the concrete slab. However, a design and construction method without the jack
up/down is preferable in practice because of economy and simplicity at construction stages. In
compliance with this demand, the crack-width control design method has been specified in
Eurocode 4 (1996). In the crack-width control design, tensile cracking in a concrete slab near
interior supports is allowed under service loads. To ensure durability of the concrete slab, the
crack width is limited within a limit by means of increase steel reinforcement in the concrete
slab. Hence, it becomes important to predict the crack width under service loads.

Nagai et al. (2002) compared existing crack width evaluation methods (Hanswille, 1996;
Hanswille, 1997; CEB/FIP, 1993; JSCE, 1996), and investigate differences in those mechani-
cal. Inconsistency in application of the conventional crack width evaluation methods is
pointed out.
Another issue regarding crack-width control designing is the effective width of a concrete
slab for crack-width evaluation. In design practice, the beam theory is used and the effective
width concept is employed to take account of the shear-lag effects. However, effective width
formulae in existing design codes are not originally intended to account for the shear-lag ef-
fect on the crack width. In particular, Japanese Specification for Highway Bridges (JSHB)
(JRA, 2002) is intended to evaluate the maximum stress at a flange-web juncture assuming
elastic behavior without cracking. This problem is addressed by Khan et al. (2003), where a
numerical procedure for crack-width evaluation accounting for the shear-lag effect has been
proposed. The procedure is combination of 3D-FE analysis with the smeared crack model and
 China-Japan Joint Seminar on Steel and Composite Bridges 89

a bond-slip differential equation. From the FE analysis, averaged behavior including cracking
effect is calculated. Then, the crack width is evaluated by using the differential equation.

Nakamoto et al. (2003) conducted experimental observation of crack width in composite gird-
ers under negative bending by suing test specimens shown in Fig. 7. Figure 8 shows a com-
parison between the experimental results by Nakamoto et al. and the proposed numerical ones
(Khan et al., 2003). It is shown that the predicted crack widths are consistent with experimen-
tal results.

Figure 7 Experimental specimen; Section and side view

0.3

0.25
Crack Width(mm)

0.2

0.15

0.1 EXP. (Ave.)

EXP (Max. or. Min.)
0.05 Proposed Method (Ave.)
Stabilized Proposed Method (Max.)
0 ki
250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600
Load(KN)

Figure 8 Comparison of crack width with experimental results.

4 FLEXURAL STRENGTH OF COMPOSITE GIRDERS

In the limit state design method, the ultimate strength of a composite section is evaluated de-
pending on the classification of sections, such as Class 1-4 in Eurocode and “Compact”,
“Noncompact” in AASHTO (1998). For composite girders under positive bending moments,
the width-thickness ratio of the web plate and the position of the neutral axis are the govern-
ing parameters for the classification, because the compressive flange is fixed by the concrete
slab to be prevented from the local buckling. In AASHTO and Eurocode, the same section-
classification requirements as those for steel sections are used for composite sections as well.
It is speculated that section-classification requirements for steel sections are applied to com-
posite sections. The section-classification requirements are determined on the basis of the
data not for composite girders but for only steel girder. Hence, the effect of the concrete slab
on the classification seems to be not properly taken into account.

Most composite girder bridges are constructed with the unshored construction method. The
unshored construction requires steel girders to resist the initial bending moment due to the
weight of steel girders and wet concrete. Then, the bending moment due to superimposed
90 China-Japan Joint Seminar on Steel and Composite Bridges

dead load and live load are supported by the steel and concrete composite sections. It is well
known that there is almost no effect of the initial bending moment on the flexural resistance
compact sections. However, the flexural resistance of noncompact sections is considered to be
significantly affected by the initial bending moment, because the initial bending moment
serves as residual stress in elasto-plastic buckling. Nevertheless, the initial bending moment
effect on the flexural capacity and accordingly the classification of sections is not considered
even in experimental studies (Kemp, A.R., 1996; Ansourian, P., 1982).

To develop a new section classification for unshored composite girders, we carried out the pa-
rametric study of 3D nonlinear FE analysis of the ultimate strength of composite girders
(Gupta et al., 2006). Figure 9 shows a FE mesh in the parametric study and its web buckling
mode. The flanges and web plates of the steel I-girder were modeled with 4-node thin shell
elements. The concrete slab was modeled with 8-node solid elements. As is usually done in
positive bending, longitudinal reinforcement in concrete slabs has been neglected in FE mod-
els. The material and geometric nonlinearity are considered and details of modeling are de-
cribed in Gupta et al. (2006).

In this parametric study, a two-phase analysis is carried out to simulate the unshored con-
struction of composite girders. In the first phase, there is no composite action, and only steel
girder carries the initial bending moment. In actual unshored composite bridges, this initial
bending moment results from the self-weight of the steel girder, the weight of wet concrete,
and construction loads. In the second phase, the incremental applied moment is applied to a
composite section with concrete slab. The magnitude of the initial bending moment, M 1 were
assigned to 0, 20, 30 and 40 % of the yield moment of the steel section M ys

Figure 10 shows the numerical results along with the web slenderness limits for compact sec-
tions in AASHTO and Eurocode. From these results, we determine the compact section re-
quirement for composite sections under positive bending moment as
bw 2.0 E
≤ (1)
tw α f yd
where E and f yd are Young’s modulus and the design yield strength of steel, respectively; the
definition of α is shown in Fig. 10b. The web slenderness limit defined by Eq.(1) is plotted by
the dash line in Fig. 10a.

Figure 9. Finite Element Mesh and Buckling Mode.

 China-Japan Joint Seminar on Steel and Composite Bridges 91

25 0

AASHTO Compact
20 0
Proposed Compact limit

15 0

EC Class 1
10 0

EC Class 2

50

Comp act sect ions (FE Analysis)

0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0 .4 0 .5

α
(a) (b)
Figure 10. Proposed Compact Section Criterion
(a) Web Slenderness and Relation, (b) Definition of Symbols.

Next, the web slenderness limit for noncompact sections is considered. The web width-
thickness ratios are plotted against α ′ for different initial bending moment in Fig. 11. The
noncompact and slender sections determined from FEM analyses are denoted by open circles
and solid triangles, respectively. The increase of M 1 is to change the section classification
from noncompact to slender. The solid curves Fig. 11 represent Eurocode's class 3 and
AASHTO's noncompact limits.

250 250
w w

w w

Proposed Proposed
Width-to-thickness ratio b /t

Width-to-thickness ratio b /t

AASHTO Noncompact Noncompact Limit Noncompact Limit

200 200 AASHTO Noncompact

150 150

100 EC Class 3 100

EC Class 3

Noncompact sections (FE Analysis) Noncompact sections (FE Analysis)

Slender sections (FE Analysis) Slender sections (FE Analysis)
50 50
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6
α' α'
(a) (b)
Figure 11. Web slenderness limit for noncompact section: (a) M 1 M ys = 0 , (b) M 1 M ys = 0.3 .

The boundary between the noncompact and slender sections obtained from the numerical
analysis shows a trend similar to Eurocode's class 3 limit. A reason for the inadequacy in
AASHTO's limit is considered that AASHTO web slenderness limit is based on the elastic
buckling theory for doubly symmetric sectuions, and accordingly the effect of stress gradient
is not taken into account properly. Hence, the web slenderness limit in Eurocode is used as a
basis for deriving the web slenderness limit for noncompact sections. By shifting the Euro-
code’s limit to fit the noncompact-slender boundary obtained from the numerical analysis for
M 1 = 0 , we propose the following noncompact section requirement:
92 China-Japan Joint Seminar on Steel and Composite Bridges

bw E
≤ 2.5Λ (1 −ψ ) −ψ for ψ ≤ −1.0
tw f yd
(2)
bw 1 .7 Λ E
≤ for ψ > −1.0
t w 0.67 + 0.33ψ f yd
where ψ is a parameter for stress gradient and defined in Fig.12; Λ represents the effect of
initial bending moment, and given by
2
 M   
Λ = 1 − 0.1 1  + 2.3 M 1  for
M1
≤ 0 .4 (3)
M  M  M ys
 ys   ys 

Figure 12. Proposed Compact Section Criterion

(a) Web Slenderness and Relation, (b) Definition of Symbols

5 SUMMARY

Recent researches on steel-concrete composite girder in Japan were introduced. The selection
of topics reflects the authors’ interest. More variety of research topics including fatigue and
dynamic problems can be found out from recent proceedings on bridge engineering (Albrecht
et al., 2005).

6 REFERENCES

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 China-Japan Joint Seminar on Steel and Composite Bridges 93

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