C.

Appendix C: CALCULATIONS FOR LOAD

DISTRIBUTION FOR CONCRETE GIRDERS
C. INTRODUCTION
Three different methods of distribution of loads in the transverse direction of a concrete beam and slab bridge available have
been briefly discussed at the end of Section 14.5.3. They are

Courban's method

Henry–Jaegar method1 and

Morice–Little version of Guyon Maissonet method2

Two of the methods commonly used by highway engineers in India are Courban's method for its simplicity and Morice–Little
method for its being more rational and realistic, Latter method considers both flexural and torsional capacities of the girders
and cross girders. It leads to more safe and conservative designs. Those interested in comparing the results with that of
Henry–Jaeger method can refer to Reference 3.

This appendix has been added to illustrate the use of the two methods through a worked out example and also to present the
curves used for Morice–Little method.

C. DESIGN PROBLEM AND DATA

C. SECTION PROPERTIES

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 Figure C.1

C. COURBAN'S METHOD
This method is applicable only to beam and slab type of structure on straights but not skew nor curved. The girder under design
is on straight. It should have at least three cross beams extending for full depth or almost full depth. The ratio of longitudinal
effective span to the effective width of deck should be between 2 and 4 and they should be simply supported.

For application of Courban's method, the deck should satisfy the following conditions.

It should have at least three cross beams extending for full depth or for 0.75 times full depth of the main girders. (5 > 3 and
same depth)

The ratio of longitudinal effective span to the effective width of deck (product of number of beams and spacing) should be
between 2 and 4 and (20/10 = 2).

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 The girder is simply supported and not skew or curved.

The structure under consideration satisfies all the three conditions. Hence Courban's method can be used for determining load
distribution.

Reaction on individual beam is related to the relative deflection of the beam under the load system. When the loads are placed
eccentrically across the deck, the exterior girder on the side of eccentricity deflects maximum while the exterior girder on the
other side deflects least and the deflection of the intermediate girders lie in between. The ratio of load taken by girder i is given
by the equation:

where, Ri = Load on the girder/beam i

W = Total live load on the span

e = eccentricity of live load with respect to axis of the bridge

Di = Distance of beam I from the axis

In this particular case, all the longitudinal girders are of the same cross section and effective deck width is almost same for
each, the MI will be same and hence Ii for each girder is taken as one unit. Two load cases are anlysed here. Let the girders be
designated A, B, C and D.

a. Consider two lanes of Class A placed eccentrically to the side of girder A. The eccentricity works out to

With the girders spaced at 2.5 m, distances of the beams from axis are –1.25 m, –3.75 m, 1.25 m and 3.75 m respectively.

Total load W = 4 P

b. Consider one lane 70 R Tracked vehicle placed eccentrically on left side let individual axle load be designated R, total load
being 2R

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C. MORICE–LITTLE METHOD

C.5. Method in Brief

The method is also based on the principle that the load share of the girder is related to the relative deflection the girder under
load. The deck is treated as a grillage and a more strict analysis is made of the deflecting behaviour of the deck in the
transverse direction. For that purpose, the deck is divided into eight equal parts and its flexural capacity and torsional capacity
are computed in terms of two parameters θ and α respectively. The load distributing characteristics of the deck is related to the
flexural capacity parameter θ. The torsional capacity parameter α = 0 for no-torsion grillage and α = 1 for a solid having
maximum torsional stiffness.

Division of the deck into eight equal parts results in nine boundary points. The deflections under each of these points need to be
considered with loads placed also at each. Morice-Little curves have been evolved to provide the arithmetical coefficient known
as distribution coefficient K for such deflection. Actual deflection of the deck at the boundary point under proposed load will be
K times average deflection of the deck that will take place when the load is uniformly distributed across the deck as shown in
Fig. 14.13(c). Since deflection at any location is directly related to the bending moments, they can be applied to arrive at the
longitudinal bending stresses also.

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The distribution coefficients at the reference points represent the load sharing pattern across the deck and are used to compute
the proportion of load shared by the deck at the reference points. Thus it becomes a multiplication factor to be applied to the
total load to arrive at pattern of load distribution across the deck, which can be interpolated to arrive at the share at individual
girder position.

Morice–Little curves comprise 12 sets of curves. Six of them given in Figs. C 3 to C 8 for deck with no torsional stiffnessα = 0
(designated for convenience as K0 ) and six curves given in Figs. C 9 to 13 for deck with maximum torsional stiffness α = 1
(designated as K1 ). The distribution coefficient for a deck with torsional stiffness parameter α for a bridge deck is arrived at by
applying the equation:

Since there has been some approximation in arriving at these curves, a correction factor of 10% is applied to the bending
moments and stresses arrived at using these graphs to represent the actuals under concentrated loads. Readers may refer to
the original paper Reference 1 or Victor's book 2 for more details and theoretical basis.

C.5. Application of Morice–Little Method

The method is now applied to the problem solved by use of Courban's method for three lane Class A load placed eccentrically
on one side.

Parameters θ and α have been already worked out and indicated in the table at Para C.3.

The distribution coefficients have been read from the graphs for θ = 0.303 for α = 0 and α = 1 and are tabulated below. Spacing
of the girders is 2.5 m and for purpose of equivalent deck a width of 4 × 2.5 = 10.00 m has been assumed even though the
carriageway is 8.40 m wide and total width of deck including kerb and crash barrier on sides is 9.60 m.

Four girder two lane checking for Two Lane Class A loads

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Comparison of results by two methods:

Beam Load share as per Courban's method Load share as per Morice–Little method

A 1.55 1.348

B 1.18 1.132

C 0.82 0.883

D 0.45 0.606

The twelve curves used for the load distribution between longitudinal girders are reproduced in following pages for ready
reference.

Curve for K0 at reference station 0

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Curves for K0 at reference station b/4

Graphs for K0 at reference station b/2

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Graphs for K0 at reference station 3/4b

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Graphs for K0 at reference station b

Graphs for large range distribution coefficients for K0

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Graphs for K1 at referenece stations

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Graph for K1 at reference stations b/4

Graphs for K1 at reference stations b/2 (bottom), ¾ b (middle) and b (top)

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