Time-Dependent Reliability Analysis for Deflection of a Reinforced Concrete Box Girder Bridge

Abstract

Prior to casting of concrete, proper supervision and attention to camber provision in bridge construction are required. It is also critical to use an appropriate quality control manual, pay due attention to reinforcement bar placement, and have a high level of formwork design before construction begins. If these issues are not properly addressed, performance of structures will be affected. In this research, performance of a 40.5m box-girder reinforced concrete bridge which was constructed without having proper camber is studied. As camber was the most important issue of the bridge under investigation, the impact on strength and serviceability requirements is compared to the standard. A dynamic load test with an Arduino type accelerometer is performed to assess the bridge's current condition in relation to the serviceability limit requirement. The deterioration of reinforced concrete (RC) sections due to reinforcement corrosion, creep, and an increase in load intensity, as well as the corresponding statistical distributions are considered to estimate the long-term effect of bridge deflection. The time-variant analysis results show that a linear decrease in deflection reliability indices with the bridge's expected service life of 58 years and strengthening it increased to 85 years.