A Study on the Wheel Load Distribution of 2-Span Continuous Prestressed Concrete Skew Bridges

Wheel load distribution factors have been used to calculate the stresses and moments ,in the girders, produced by franc loading. Therefore these factors have to be exactly evaluated to calculate the stresses and moments of structural members. Because the design detail specified by AASHTO dose not account for the effect of skewness and continuity, it is extremely ineffective to evaluate the moment of the girders for bridges which is influenced by skewness and continuity. In this study, the distribution factor expressions are presented for wheel load distribution to interior and exterior girders of 2span continuous prestressed concrete bridges. For these expressions, the finite-element analysis is employed to carry out an extensive parametric study on more than 150 bridge cases, and the regression analysis is performed with the parameters that have an effect on distribution factors. The five major parameters under consideration are girder spacing, span length, skew angle, girder-to-slab stiffness ratio, and girder and diaphragm stiffness ratio. The span lengths are 25 m, 30 m, and 35 m, and girder spacings are 1.8 m,2.4 m, and 3.6 m, with constant slab width. The skew angles, , are varied between .