AN APPROXIMATE METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF BOX GIRDER BRIDGES THAT ARE CURVED IN PLAN

The paper describes the development of the nodal section method for the analysis of box girders curved in plan. The method makes certain assumptions about the structural behaviour and provides an economical solution process, suitable for use during the design stage. Results are compared with those obtained from a finite element analyis for box girders of different curvatures, of different cross-sectional proportions and material properties, under a variety of loading conditions. The degree of correlation obtained shows the accuracy of the proposed technique to be reasonable. /Author/