The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Model Studies of Skew Box Girder Bridges

Godden, William G.; Aslam, Mohammad

UCB/SESM-1971/26, Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 1971-10, 198 pages (550.3/G63/1971)

The report presents the results of laboratory tests on a series of small-scale aluminum models of rectangular and skew box-girder bridges. The tests were conducted primarily to provide experimental response data for skew bridges and data to check the accuracy of proposed analytical solutions for the elastic behavior of bridges of this type. The prototype design in all cases was a four cell box section with a total width of 33 ft. 10 in. Spans varied from 54.5 ft. to 167.9 ft., and the skew angles from 0 degrees to 45 degrees. Data presented include external reactions, deflections at selected points along the webs, axial plate forces and transverse plate bending moments on the transverse section close to mid-span. Also deduced is the distribution of total moment at mid-span between individual I beams that comprise the box section.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/SEMM/SEMM-71-26.pdf (16 MB)