BEHAVIOR OF CURVED BRIDGE MODELS

RESULTS FROM TESTING A CURVED MODEL OF VARYING STRUCTURAL CONFIGURATIONS: STEEL FRAME, NONCOMPOSITE CONCRETE DECK, AND COMPOSITE CONCRETE DECK CAN BE PREDICTED BY A PROPOSED SLOPE DEFLECTION TECHNIQUE. THE ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUE ACCOMMODATES A SINGLE-SPAN, TWO-SPAN OR THREE-SPAN STRUCTURE. ANALYTICAL TECHNIQUES MAY BE USED TO EVALUATE THE BEHAVIOR OF ACTUAL CURVED HIGHWAY BRIDGES. BY USING THE PRELIMINARY DESIGN EQUATION AND THE GENERAL COMPUTER PROGRAMS, THE BRIDGE ENGINEER CAN ACCURATELY EVALUATE THE FORCES AND DEFORMATIONS IN CURVED BRIDGE SYSTEMS. /AUTHOR/