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Design of Box Girders - General Considerations

Introduction to Section 3
Module SE1M93 Long Span Bridges
Unit 3 Box Girder Bridges
Section 3 Design of Box Girders - General Considerations
Study time 40 minutes

Aims of the Section:

The aims of the section are to appreciate:

1. Different designs of box girders bridges

2. The means of stiffening of box girders

3. The buckling behaviour of stiffened box girders

Study Plan:

This section has a study time allocation of 40 minutes.

Learning Outcomes:

On completing this section you should be able to:

1. Describe different configurations of box girders bridges for different spans

2. Explain the purpose of box girder stiffeners

3. Describe the manners in which longitudinal and transverse stiffeners are used

4. Explain the buckling modes and buckling characteristics of box girders

5. Describe different ways to use intermediate cross frames or diaphragms and bearing
diaphragms

6. Outline the effect of the location of bearings in diaphragms

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File: Introductory Remarks

Design of Box Girders - General Considerations

Introductory Remarks

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Section 3 (Unit 3) Page 2 of 10

Advantages of Box Girders

Box girders, while more expensive to fabricate than plate girders because of their complexity,
have a number of significant advantages, particularly for longer spans. Firstly because of the
shape of the box, the top flange itself can act as the decking without the need for a concrete
deck. They can also be designed with an aerodynamic shape, again making them ideal for long
spans. Their high torsional rigidity again helps in the context of long spans, but also in providing
flexibility for bearing arrangements and where a structure curved in plan is required.

Intermediate Spans

For intermediate spans a box can be used compositely, either with a full width top flange or
with two narrow flanges. In all cases, shear connection must be present over the full flange
width. Depending on the width of slab needed, the former type can have transverse cross
girders connected to the boxes. Cantilever cross girders may also be used to increase the bridge
width. The cross girders provide additional support to the concrete flange allowing it to span in
two directions. An example of each type of structure is shown below in Figure 3.26a & b.

Figure 3.26a. Structure composed of two boxes and cross girders

Figure 3.26b. Structure composed of two boxes and a full width top flange

Long Spans

Figure 3.26a & b show bridges with two boxes. It is possible to design bridges with a number of
smaller boxes and a composite deck, but the benefits of using boxes compared with plate
girders are then reduced.

For the longest spans a single box either cable stayed or with suspension support is used. There
are now many quite significant examples of box girder suspension bridges with spans of 1000
metres or more. The Humber bridge in the UK, for example, has a span of 1410 metres.

All longer span bridges of this type have an orthotropic steel deck in place of concrete to
minimise weight. The decks are very slender, multiply-stiffened and aerodynamically shaped to
minimise wind induced drag and possible oscillations. An example of such a cross-section is
shown below in Figure 3.27.

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Section 3 (Unit 3) Page 3 of 10

Figure 3.27. A single box bridge cross section

Construction of Very Large Spans

The construction of the very large spans is carried out by cantilever balancing construction away
from a pier. New sections are bolted to the existing structure lifted from the water by a
temporary gantry sitting on the existing deck. This is illustrated in Figure 3.28. The two halves
of the bridge are joined together at mid span.

Figure 3.28. Construction of very large spans carried out by cantilever balancing

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File: Box Girder Stiffeners

Design of Box Girders - General Considerations

Box Girder Stiffeners

The webs of box girders are stiffened with intermediate transverse stiffeners and, unless stocky,
with one or more longitudinal stiffeners. A sensible initial design assumption for one stiffener is
to place it at a third of the depth away from the compression flange while two can be placed at
mid-depth and one sixth of the depth from the compression flange. These locations can be
adjusted to optimise the performance of the web plate panels.

For a large box the webs can have multiple longitudinal stiffeners generally equally spaced
down the inclined web. Cross sections for simple horizontally stiffened girders are shown below
in Figure 3.29. For this type of construction the breadth to depth ratio would tend to be in the
range from 3:1 to 1:2 depending on the bridge configuration.

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Section 3 (Unit 3) Page 4 of 10

Figure 3.29. Cross sections of stiffened girders

While longitudinal stiffeners are not required in the tension flange for the main loading
components, they are often provided for robustness unless the flange is particularly stocky.

If the box has a wide flange and is non composite, the top flange will be fabricated as an
orthotropic steel deck. The deck has to carry wheel loads as well as the main in-plane girder
loading and therefore has to have closely spaced longitudinal stiffeners. These are of bulb flat or
angle or closed section. The latter can be trough or V-shaped stiffeners, which have the
advantage of multiple support for the flange plate as well as high torsional rigidity when welded
to the deck. Figure 3.30 below shows the range of stiffener sections that may be used in box
girders.

Flat, angle, tee, bulb flat, trough, and vee stiffener sections.

Figure 3.30. Stiffener sections for box girders

All may be used for flange longitudinal stiffeners although T-sections tend to be used for
transverse stiffeners and flats suffer from the disadvantage that they have very low torsional
stiffness.

In all cases, longitudinal stiffeners should be threaded through and welded to cut-outs in the
transverse stiffeners so as to maintain the integrity of the longitudinal load path. This is
particularly important for compressive stress where eccentricities should be avoided. The Figure
3.31 below shows the configuration of a typical orthotropic deck, fabricated using open section
stiffeners.

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Section 3 (Unit 3) Page 5 of 10

Figure 3.31. Arrangement of longitudinal and transverse stiffeners on a plate of a box girder

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File: Buckling Modes

Design of Box Girders - General Considerations

Buckling Modes

The buckling modes for such a deck include buckling of the sub-panels between the longitudinal
stiffeners, buckling of the stiffened flange between cross girders and buckling of the overall
flange with a longitudinal wavelength longer than the transverse stiffener spacing. In the latter
case the cross girders will deform transverse to the flange. These buckling modes are shown
diagrammatically in Figure 3.32.

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Section 3 (Unit 3) Page 6 of 10

Figure 3.32. Illustration of the buckling modes of a stiffened deck

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File: Buckling Behaviour of Plates and Stiffeners

Design of Box Girders - General Considerations

Buckling Behaviour of Plates and Stiffeners

All buckling modes can occur either upward or downward. In the case of modes involving the
stiffeners this will mean that both the plate and the stiffener outstand could be in local bending
compression (in addition to the direct compressive stress) so failure can occur by buckling of
either element or by yield in tension. As will be seen later this leads to both deformation
directions being checked in the design process.

It also leads to the possible local buckling of the plates of the stiffener sections themselves
although this is normally eliminated from design by making these sub-elements stocky. This
approach is taken in BS5400 Part 3 where slenderness limits are defined for the elements of the
stiffener cross sections, which provide a factor of safety against elastic critical buckling to allow
for non-linear effects.

Figure 3.33 shows the buckling of the panels between longitudinal stiffeners and the buckling of
longitudinal stiffeners between cross frames. It can be seen that in both cases adjacent
elements will deform in opposing directions because of continuity. The weakest mode will
determine the failure capacity. The torsional rigidity of the stiffeners will determine whether
they remain straight or whether they will twist to remain orthogonal to the plating or
longitudinal stiffeners. The former has been shown in the Figure.

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Section 3 (Unit 3) Page 7 of 10

Figure 3.33. (a) Buckling of the panels between longitudinal stiffeners. (b) Buckling of
longitudinal stiffeners between cross frames

Buckling of the webs is similar to the case of plate girders although the increased use of
longitudinal stiffeners adds complexity. The buckling restraint provided by the flanges is also
significantly lower, particularly where these are longitudinally stiffened and hence very slender.

For any girder where longitudinal stiffeners are present in either web or flange, BS5400 does
not allow the use of a tension field approach, resorting to a more complex approach that
considers the strength of each sub-panel in detail. This is described later.

The reasons for this are two-fold. Firstly, the large shear deformations needed to achieve full
tension field action could build in significant eccentricities and destabilise a slender stiffened
compression flange. Secondly, the tension field model for a longitudinally stiffened web is
complex with the diagonal buckles rotating from the sub-panel buckles through the longitudinal
stiffeners themselves. This form of behaviour was precluded from the code.

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File: Intermediate Cross Frames

Design of Box Girders - General Considerations

Intermediate Cross Frames

The final main elements that are needed in a box girder are the intermediate cross frames or
diaphragms and the bearing diaphragms.

Intermediate cross frames are needed at regular intervals to maintain cross sectional shape.
They also have a role in supporting the flange longitudinal stiffeners providing nodal lines to
limit the buckling effective length of the longitudinally stiffened flange.

The location of these cross frames or transverse stiffeners coincides with transverse stiffeners in
the webs and tension flange so that a welded ring exists which strengthens the cross section. As
these cross frames are normally placed around 1.5 to 3 times the width of the flange apart,
additional web transverse stiffeners are normally placed between them to enhance web buckling
capacity.

At less regular intervals the cross frames may be braced to add additional strength to the cross
section to prevent distortion of the cross sectional shape. This is also shown in Figure 3.34.

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Section 3 (Unit 3) Page 8 of 10

Figure 3.34. Illustration of cross frames

A more complex cross frame arrangement combined with cross girders and web stiffeners is
shown in the shaded Figure 3.35.

Figure 3.35. Example of cross frame arrangement

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File: Intermediate Diaphragms and Bearing Diaphragms

Design of Box Girders - General Considerations

Intermediate Diaphragms and Bearing Diaphragms

For larger more slender boxes, plated intermediate diaphragms may be used to fulfil this
function. Such diaphragms are not dissimilar to bearing diaphragms but are generally lighter
with some stiffening when slender but without the load distribution stiffening needed in a
bearing diaphragm because of the high compression above the bearings.

There is a substantial range of possible geometries for bearing diaphragms depending on the
size and shape of the cross section but also dependent on the location of the bearings relative
to the centre line of the box and the webs. A simple bearing diaphragm for a small stocky box is
shown in Figure 3.36.

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Section 3 (Unit 3) Page 9 of 10

Figure 3.36. A simple bearing diaphragm for a small stocky box

The full depth stiffeners prevent the plated diaphragm buckling from the compression above the
bearings and also help the shear distribute from the webs into the bearings. Because of the
stocky nature of the diaphragm there is no need for horizontal stiffeners because of the limited
horizontal stress resulting from transverse bending.

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File: Effect of Bearing Location in Diaphragms

Design of Box Girders - General Considerations

Effect of Bearing Location in Diaphragms

Figure 3.37 shows two diaphragms illustrating the possible effect of bearing location. In the
diaphragm on the left, the bearings are located near the webs introducing transverse bending
putting the top of the diaphragm in horizontal compression. The horizontal stiffener has been
added to prevent buckling of the central plate caused by this stress combined with the vertical
compression and shear.

Figure 3.37. Diaphragms with bearings in different locations

In the diaphragm on the right, the reverse is true with the bearings close together and the
horizontal compression from transverse bending present in the bottom of the diaphragm. The
horizontal stiffener is therefore placed in this critical area. Both diaphragms have stub bearing
stiffeners to prevent local plate crippling as well as full depth stiffeners for shear transfer.

Bearing location is often determined by the location and size of the piers which are themselves
influenced by the general environment of the bridge, the nature of the ground, its height, etc.

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Section 3 (Unit 3) Page 10 of 10

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File: A complex Diaphragm

Design of Box Girders - General Considerations

A complex Diaphragm

Figure 3.38 shows a complex multi-stiffened diaphragm, which has widely spaced bearings, a
wide slender box and an access hole for maintenance and inspection purposes. Because of the
widely spaced bearings, the diaphragm is again horizontally stiffened near the bottom flange.
There is also a complex series of stiffeners around the large opening to prevent the centre of
the diaphragm plate from buckling.

Figure 3.38. A complex multi-stiffened diaphragm

The design of such a diaphragm is not unlike a multi-stiffened web as it is essentially a deep
beam with high levels of shear, bending and transverse compression. The stress state in each
panel has to be considered separately to prevent individual panel buckling.

It makes sense in design to keep diaphragms relatively stocky to involve complexity. Weight is
not a significant issue for a support diaphragm and fabrication costs can be disproportionate if
slenderness is not required because of the size of the box.

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