CURVED GIRDERS ARE SPECIAL

Horizontally curved I-girders have been used in highway bridges for ov er 30 years. Their structural behaviour is known to be quite different from straight girders because of the always present nonuniform torsio n. Early studies of these members were based on a strength of material s approach. Modifications of these results were made to account for di stortion and amplification effects. More recent investigations in Japa n have involved inelastic finite element studies. From these studies v arious modifications of straight I-girder bending strength equations h ave been presented. Bending tests of curved beams are compared to thes e equations. It is suggested that current research may lead toward the thought that curved girders are the general case, and straight girder s may be considered a special case. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Scienc e Ltd.