THE ANALYSIS OF SINGLE CURVED GIRDERS WITH VARIOUS LOADINGS AND BOUNDARY CONDITIONS

THE DEVELOPMENT IS PRESENTED OF A METHOD FOR THE ANALYSIS OF A CURVED GIRDER. THIS METHOD IS THE RESULT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF TWO SIMULTANEOUS LINEAR DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS FOR CURVED GIRDERS. IN ACCORDANCE WITH THIS METHOD COMPUTER PROGRAMS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED FOR SINGLE SPAN AND TWO-SPAN CONTINUOUS GIRDER ANALYSIS. COMPARISONS HAVE ALSO BEEN MADE BETWEEN THIS METHOD AND OTHER METHODS DEVELOPED PREVIOUSLY, IN TERMS OF FLEXIBILITY, GENERALITY, CONVENIENCE AND NUMERICAL ANSWERS. AN EXPERIMENTAL BEAM HAS BEEN TESTED AND THE RESULTS INDICATE THAT THE THEORY OF THE BEHAVIOR OF A SINGLE CURVED GIRDER CAN BE PREDICTED. /BPR/