Chidolue, C. A et al. Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications www.ijera.

com
ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 5, Issue 2, ( Part -1) February 2015, pp.45-51

REVIEW ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS

Torsional-Distortional Performance of Multi-Cell Trapezoidal

Box Girder with All Inclined Web Members
Chidolue, C. A*, Amadou, A** And Ezeagu, C. A***
*Department of Civil Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria
**Department of Civil Engineering, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
***Department of Civil Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract
In this study, the torsional and distortional performance of a three triangular cell trapezoidal box girder section
was studied using Vlasov’s theory of thin walled structures. The potential energy of a system under equilibrium
was used to obtain the governing differential equations of equilibrium for torsionl-distortional analysis of the
box structure. The strain modes diagrams representing torsional and distortional interactions of the box girder
structure were obtained as well as the distortional bending moment diagram for the box girder structure. These
were used to compute Vlasov’s coefficients contained in the differential equations of equilibrium. The fourth
order differential equations obtained were solved using method of trigonometric series with accelerated
convergence to obtain the distortional and torsional deformations which were compared with torsional and
distortional deformations of a single cell mono symmetric box girder section of similar overall dimensions and
plates thicknesses. The maximum distortional deformation was found to be 168% lower than that of a single cell
mono-symmetric box girder section of the same size and dimensions. The inclined internal web members,
which also act as diaphragms, brought about increase in the pure torsional and distortional components of the
applied torsional load, resulting to marginal increase in the torsional deformation but major decrease in the
distortional deformation.
Keywords: deformation, distortion, torsion, trapezoidal box girder, triangular cells, Vlasov’s theory.

I. Introduction girder, steel and reinforced concrete. Literature on

The cross section of box girder bridges may cellular box girders with three or more cells appears
take the form of single cell, multi cell (cellular) or to be scarce. Those available for two-celled box
multi spine (multiple box) profiles. Multi cell box girder are in reinforced concrete area. Thus, there
girder type provides greater torsional stiffness than appears to be a dearth of information on the
multi spine type due to the high efficiency of the torsional-distortional behaviour of thin-walled box
contiguous cells in resisting eccentric loadings. girder bridge structure with three or more cells in
Trapezoidal box girder bridges are often used in cross section.
curved bridges due to the large torsional stiffness Specific areas covered by the available
that result from the closed cross section. literature on torsional and or tortional performance
In general, a reinforced concrete bridge of mono symmetric box girgers include:(a) torsional
structure may consist of deck slabs, T beams (deck stiffness and shear flow, (b) distortional design of
girder), through and box girder, rigid frames and flat multi-box and multi-cellular sections, (c)
slab types. Combinations of these with precasting or distortional behaviour and brace forces, (d) effect of
prestressing produce additional structural forms and warping on longitudinal and transverse normal
enhance bridge versatility, [1]. stresses, (e) design coefficients for loads and aids to
In the selection of the proper type of bridge, practical design, (f) analysis of deformable sections
cost is usually the determining criterion. Box girder / design curves, (g) torsional load distribution, (h)
decks are cast-in-place units that can be constructed approximate method to determine torsional
to follow any desired alignment in plan, so that moments in non deformable sections, (i) bending
straight, skew, and curved bridges of various shapes moment expressions, shear and torsional moments
are common in the highway system. for live loads (j) bracing requirements for open
Research work [2], [3], [4], [5] and [6] on thin- sections.
walled box girder structures covered essentially With these trends, the authors felt that available
three types of cross section. (a) Single cell steel box literature on torsional-distortional elastic behaviour
girder structure, straight and curved. (b) Twin cell of thin-walled deformable box girder structure is
reinforced concrete box girder, straight and curved. surprisingly few. This could be attributed to the fact
(c) Two-box and three-box multiple spine box that most authors assume that the use of

www.ijera.com 45 | P a g e
Chidolue, C. A et al. Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 5, Issue 2, ( Part -1) February 2015, pp.45-51

intermediate stiffeners and diaphragms on thin- M ( x, s ) = Transverse distortional bending moment

walled closed and quasi-closed structures is an q = Line load per unit area applied in the plane of
effective way of handling non-uniform torsion and
the plate
its attendant problems of warping and distortion.
Moment of inertia of plates forming the box
The authors also believe that the use of triangular
celled trapezoidal box girder will improve the 3
t (s)
torsional-distortional qualities of mono-symmetric girder is given by: I ( s )  (5)
2
box girders and at the same time make the use of 12(1   )
diaphragms and intermediate stiffeners irrelevant. E = Modulus of elasticity
Hence, this research seeks to evaluate the torsional G = Shear modulus
and distortional deformations of a simply supported  = poisson ratio
multi- triangular-cell trapezoidal box girder bridge. t = thickness of plate
By comparing its torsional and distortional
deformations with those of an equivalent single cell Using Vlasov’s displacement fields [7] and the
trapezoidal box girder section having the same basic stress-strain relations of theory of elasticity,
overall dimensions and plate thicknesses, an insight the expressions for normal and shear stresses
is obtained concerning the efficiency of such box become:
girder section in resisting torsional and distortional m
σ(x, s) = E  i (s)Ui '(x) (6a)
loads. Vlasov’s [7] theory as modified by Verbernov i=1
[8] was adopted in the analysis.
τ(x, s) = G   i '(s)Ui (x) +  ψ k (s)Vk '(x)  (6b)
m n

II. Formulation of Equilibrium i=1 k=1 

Equations where U(x) and V(x) are unknown functions
The potential energy of a box girder structure governing the displacements in the longitudinal and
under the action of a distortional load of intensity q transverse directions respectively, and  and  are
is given by; generalized warping and distortional strain modes
respectively. These strain modes are known
  U  WE (1)
functions of the profile coordinates and are chosen
Where, in advance for any type of cross section
 = the total potential energy of the box girder The potential energy of the box girder structure
structure, is given by [7]:
U = Strain energy, 1 ' '
  E  a U ( x )U ( x ) dx 
WE = External potential or work done by the 2 ij i j

G  b U ( x )U ( x )   c U ( x )V ( x )  dx
external loads. 1 '
+
2  ij i j kj k j 
From strength of material study, the strain
G  c U ( x)V ( x)   r V ( x )V ( x )  dx
energy of a structure is given by: 1 ' ' '
+
  2 ( x, s)  2 ( x, s)  2  2  ih i h kh k h 
1 M ( x, s )
U      t (s)  dxds +
2 L S  E G  EI ( s ) 
   +
1
E  s V ( x )V ( x )dx -
(2) 2 hk k h
Work done by external load is given by;  qhVh dx (8)
WE  qv( x, s)dxds
=   q  Vh ( x ) h ( s ) dsdx =   qhVh dx (3) Where, aij  a ji   i ( s ) j ( s )dA (a)
sx x
I I
Substituting (2) and (3) into (1) we obtain that: bij  b ji   i ( s ) j ( s )dA (b)
1
  σ 2 (x, s) τ 2 (x, s)  2
M (x, s)
 I
 =    +  t(s) + - qv(x, s)  dxds ckj  c jk   k ( s ) j ( s ) dA (c)
2 LS  E G  EI(s) 
    I
cih  chi   i ( s ) k ( s )dA (d)
(4)
where, rkh  rhk    k ( s ) h ( s )dA; (e)
 ( x, s ) = Normal stress
 ( x, s ) = Shear stress

www.ijera.com 46 | P a g e
Chidolue, C. A et al. Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 5, Issue 2, ( Part -1) February 2015, pp.45-51

1 M (s)M h (s)  r11 r12 r13 r14  V1''   q1 

skh  shk   k r  
r24  V2''  1 q2 
ds (f)
E EI ( s ) r22 r23
+
21
  
qh   q h ds  r31 r32 r33 r34  V3''  G  q3 
(h)
  q 
(9)  r41 r42 r43 r44  V4''   4
(12b)
The transverse bending moment generated in
the box structure due to distortion is given by [7]: The elements, aij, bij, cij, and rij, in the matrix
n equations are the Vlasov’s coefficients and are
M  x, s    M ( s )V ( x ) (10) determined from the strain modes diagrams and by
k k
k 1 using Morh’s integral for diagram multiplication.
Where M k ( s ) is the bending moment generated in The shk coefficients depend on the bending
deformation of the plates forming the box girder
the cross sectional frame of unit width due to a unit section. They are obtained first, by drawing the
distortion, V ( x)  1 . distortional bending moment diagram of the box
By minimizing the potential energy of the box girder section and then by applying Morh’s integral
girder structure, (8), with respect to the functional for diagram multiplication.
variables U(x) and V(x) using Euler Lagrange While drawing the strain modes diagrams we
technique [9], we obtain the torsional-distortional note that 1 diagram is a property of the cross
equilibrium equations for displacement analysis of
section obtained by plotting the displacement of the
the box girder. Thus:
members of the cross section when the vertical axis
m '' m n ' is rotated through a unit radian. Similarly, values of
κ  a U (x) -  b U (x) -  c V (x) = 0
i =1
ij i
i =1
ij i
k =1
kj k  2 are obtained for the members of the cross
section by plotting the displacements of the cross
I II 1
 cih Ui (x) +  rkh Vk (x) - κ  s hk Vk (x) +  q h = 0 section when the horizontal axis is rotated through a
G unit radian. 3 is the warping function of the cross
E
(11) where    2(1   ) section. It is the out of plane displacement of the
G cross section when the box girder is twisted about its
axis through the pole, one radian per unit length,
Equation (11) is Vlasovs generalized without bending in either x or y directions and
differential equations of distortional equilibrium for without longitudinal extension. Other strain modes,
the box girder structure. Its matrix form is as 1'   1 , 2'   2 , 3'   3 are obtained by
follows:
numerical differentiation of the respective strain
 a11 a12 a13  U1   b11 b13  U1 
''
b12 mode diagrams, 1 , 2 and 3 . Strain mode  4 is
   
  a21 a22 a23  U 2''  - b21 b22 b23  U 2  the displacement diagram of the box cross section
 a31 a32 a33  U 3''  b31 b32 b33  U 3  when the section is rotated one radian in say, a
clockwise direction, about its centroidal axis. The
V1'  procedure for evaluation of strain mode diagrams is
 c11 c12 c13 c14   '  fully explained in [10]

_ c21 c22 c23 c24  ' 
 V2  =0
  V III. Evaluation of Vlasov’s Coefficients
 c31 c32 c33 c34   3'  A study [12] of the interaction of the strain
V4  fields with each other reveal that the relevant strain
(12a) field interactions for torsional-distortional analysis
of mono symmetric box girder sections are those
 c11 c12 c13  ' s s12 s13 s14   V1 
c  U1   11  
involving strain field 3 (distortion) and strain field 4
 21 c22 c23   '   s21 s22 s23 s24   V2  (rotation). Thus, the coefficients involved are those
U  -    3 , 3'   3 ,
c31 c32 c33   2'   s31 s32 s33 s34   V3  dependent on the interaction of
  U   and 4 diagrams only, which are shown in Fig. 1.
c41 c42 c43   3   s41 s42 s43 s44  V4 
Using Morh’s integral for displacement
computations, the following coefficients were

www.ijera.com 47 | P a g e
Chidolue, C. A et al. Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 5, Issue 2, ( Part -1) February 2015, pp.45-51

obtained for the box girder section shown in Fig.

1(a).

a33  3 *3  2.103 ,

b33  c33  r33  3' *3'  1.943 ,
c34  c43  r34  r43  3' * 4  1.775 ,
r44   4 * 4  14.754 ,
s33  (M 3 * M 3 ) I S  1.205I S
(d) distortion diagram, 3
3.1 Distortional bending moment diagram Fig. 1: Generalized strain modes for the multi-
The procedure for evaluation of distortional cell trapezoidal box girder section
bending moment diagram and hence, the shk
coefficients of any box girder section are available
in literatures, [7], [12].

Fig.2: Distortional bending moment diagram for

the multi-cell box girder
(a) Multi cell trapezoidal box girder
IV. Evaluation of Distortional and Pure
Torsional Components of the
Torsional Load
Live loads were considered according to
AASHTO [11], following the HL-93 loading.
Uniform lane load of 9.3N/mm distributed over a
3000mm width plus tandem load of two 110 KN
axles were applied as shown in Figs 4 and 5. The
loads were positioned at the outermost possible
location to generate the maximum torsional effects.
The torsional load on the bridge girder was 138
kN, Fig.3(c), acting at eccentricity e =
(b) Rotation diagram, 4  b / 2  1.46 m.
The torsional moment, M T  138 e , Fig.4(a),
is decomposed into bending component and
torsional component, Figs. 4(b) and 4(c)
respectively. The torsional component comprises of
distortional component and pure rotational
component, Fig.5. From study [12] it was found that
the bending component of the torsional moment
does not affect or influence the pure torsional and
the distortional components of the applied torsional
load. Hence, the bending component of the applied
(c) Warping function, 3 ( s ) diagram torsional moment is irrelevant in this study, so the
dead load of the entire box structure is ignored.
Thus, the pure torsional component and the
distortional component of the applied torsional

www.ijera.com 48 | P a g e
Chidolue, C. A et al. Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 5, Issue 2, ( Part -1) February 2015, pp.45-51

moment are investigated and evaluated using Table V. Torsional-Distortional Analysis

1. Substituting the values of Vlasov’s coefficients
into eqns. (12a) and (12b) and multiplying out we
obtain, after simplification, the relevant torsional-
distorsional differential equations of equilibrium for
the analysis of the box girder section as follows:
1V3iv   2V4iv  1V4''  K1
(13)
 2V4''   V3  K 2

Table 1: Pure torsional and distortional

components of applied torsional load [3]
(a) Lane load Load (b) Tandem load
Type / Components Pure Distortional
Magnitude in plate torsional component
of load members component
Torsional Top plate: Pb2/ 2Ao Pa2 /2 Ao
moment Pt =2Ptan
by vertical Bottom Pab/ Pab / 2Ao
forces plate: Pb = 0 2Ao
(Pb) Web plate: Pbc/ Pac / 2Ao
Pw=P /cos 2Ao
Torsional Top plate: Pa / (a+b)
(c) Combined Lane load and tandem load
moment Pt = P Pb/(a+b)
Fig. 3 Positioning of Live Loads for Single Lane
by Bottom Pa/(a+ b) Pb / (a+b)
Bridge
horizontal plate: Pb = P
forces Web plate Pc / (a+b) Pc / (a+b)
(Ph) Pw = 0

(2Ao = h(a+b), where a and b are the widths of the

parallel sides of the trapezium, h is the distance
between them)

Where,
 2  ka33c43  9.332 ;
(a) Bridge eccentric Load
 2  ka33r44  77.567 ;
1  b33r44  c34c43  25.56 ;
2  r34c43  c33r44  25.516 ;
  c43ks33  3.565*103 ;
K1  b33q4 / G  3.331*104
(b) Bending component (c) Torsional component K2  (c33q4  c43q3 ) / G  2.842*104
Fig. 4 Components of Bridge Eccentric Load
Substituting the values of these parameters into
eqn. (13) we obtain:
9.332V3iv  77.569V4iv  25.516V4''  3.331*10 4
25.516V4''  3.565*103V3  2.842*104
(14)
(a) Pure torsional (b) Distortional component
component (rotation) (warping) Integrating by method of trigonometric series
Fig. 5 Components of the Torsional Load with accelerated convergence we obtain:

www.ijera.com 49 | P a g e
 Chidolue, C. A et al. Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 5, Issue 2, ( Part -1) February 2015, pp.45-51

V3 ( x)  1.218*102 sin( x / L) members in the study profile brought about increase

(15) in the torsional rigidity of the box girder which is
V4 ( x)  3.252*103 sin( x / L) expected to reduce torsional and distortional
deformations. While this was true for distortional
where L = span of the bridge = 50m deformation it was not so for torsional deformation.
14
The increase in the distortional and pure
Distortional deformation tortional components of the applied torsional load
Torsional / Distortional Deformation (mm)

12 Torsional deformation
can be attributed to the fact that torsional
10
components of the applied torsional load increase
8
with increase in the profile warping function which
6
the two internal webs in the study profile tend to
4
promote. Specifically, the distortional load
2 component for the study profile increased by 35%
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
over that of the single cell mono-symmetric profile,
Distance Along the Length of the Girder (m)
while the maximum deformation reduced by 168%.
Fig.6: Torsional and distortional deformations Also, pure torsional component of the torsional load
along the length of the girder increased by 13.8% while the torsional deformation
also increased by 16%.
Table 2. Comparison of torsional and
distortional deformations of single and multi-cell VII. Conclusion
trapezoidal box girder sections The maximum distortional deformation of a
Single cell trapezoidal Triple triangular cell multi- triangular- cell trapezoidal box Girder Bridge
box girder [10] trapezoidal box girder was found to be 168% lower than that of a single
Distortion Pure Distortion Pure cell mono-symmetric box girder section of the same
al load tortional al load tortional overall size and plate thicknesses.
and load and and load and The effect of the inclined internal web members
deformati deformatio deformati deformatio (which also act as diaphragms) was increase in the
on n on n pure torsional and distortional components of the
q3 V3(m q4 V4(m q3 V3(m q4 V4(m applied torsional load, resulting to minor increase in
(K ax) (KN ax) (k ax) (kN) ax) the torsional deformation and major decrease in the
N) (mm) ) (mm) N) (mm) (mm) distortional deformation. The ratio of distortional
1 32.68 14 2.80 2 12.18 16 3.25 deformation to torsional deformation ( which is an
9 46 6 46 indicator of structural efficiency) was drastically
6 5 reduced from 11.67 to 4.67 by the introduction of
the two internal webs forming the triangular cells in
VI. Discussion of Results the study profile. The lower this indicator value the
Figure 2 shows the distortional bending more efficient the structure behaves.
moment diagram for the multi cell trapezoidal box
girder section. The solution to the general fourth References
order differential equations of torsional- distirtional [1] Patros P. Xanthakos (1994), Theory and
analysis of the box girder section (eqn.13) is given design of bridges, John Wiley-Interscience
by eqn. (15), plotted as Fig.6 with the title ‘variation Publication, Newyork, pp 186-187.
of torsional and distortional deformation of the box [2] Dabrowski, R., 1968, Curved thin-walled
girder structure through out its length’. The girder (translation no. 144), Cement and
maximum torsional deformation was 3.25mm over a Concrete Association, London.
50m span bridge, while the maximum distortion was [3] Fan, Z. and Helwig, T. A., 2002,
12.18mm, all occurring at the mid span. Distortional loads and brace forces in steel
In table 2, the performance of the chosen box girders. Journal of Structural
triangular celled box girder structure is compared Engineering, Vol.128 issue 6, pp 710-718.
with those of a single cell mono-symmetric box [4] Sennah, K. M. , and Kennedy, J. B., 2002,
girder structure with similar over all dimensions and Literature review in analysis of box girder
plate thicknesses [10]. We observed that the bridges. Journal of Bridge Engineering,
distortional and pure torsional components of the Vol. 7, issue 2, pp134-140.
applied torsional load for the study profile were [5] Okeil, A. M., and El-Tawil, S., 2004,
higher than those of single cell mono symmetric warping stresses in curved box girder
profile [10], yet, def its distortional deformation was bridges: Case study. Journal of Bridge
much lower than those of mono symmetric section. Engineering, Vol. 9, issue 5, pp487-496.
Arguably, the two extra inclined internal web

www.ijera.com 50 | P a g e
Chidolue, C. A et al. Int. Journal of Engineering Research and Applications www.ijera.com
ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 5, Issue 2, ( Part -1) February 2015, pp.45-51

[6] Kissane, R. and Beal, D. B., 1975, Field

testing of horizontally curved steel girder
bridges. Research Report 27, U.S.
Department of Transportation, Washington,
D.C.
[7] Vlasov, V. Z., 1958, Thin-walled space
structures. Gosstrojizdat, Mosco,
[8] Verbanov, C. P., 1958, Theory of elasticity,
Technika Press Sofia. 4th edition pp254-
271.
[9] Elsgolt, L., 1980, Differential equations
and the calculus of variation, MIR
publishers, Mosco
[10] Osadebe. N. N. and Chidolue, C. A., 2012,
Torsionl- distortionl response of Thin-
walled mono symmetric box girder
structures. International journal of
Engineering Research and Applications,
Vol. 2, Issue 3, pp.814-821
[11] American Association of Highway and
Transportation Officials, 1998. Load and
Resistance Factor Design, bridge design
specifications, Washington, D.C.
[12] Chidolue, C. A., 2013, Torsional-
distortional analysis of thin-walled box
girder structure using Vlasov’s theory, Ph.
D. thesis, University of Nigeria Nsukka.

www.ijera.com 51 | P a g e