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Time-Dependent Behavior of Concrete-Filled Steel Tubular Arch Bridge

Article  in  Journal of Bridge Engineering · January 2010

DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)1084-0702(2010)15:1(98)

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 Time-Dependent Behavior of Concrete-Filled Steel
Tubular Arch Bridge
Xudong Shao1; Jianxin Peng2; Lifeng Li3; Banfu Yan4; and Jianhua Hu5

Abstract: This paper develops a simplified method using a summation procedure and a related computer program to calculate the
time-dependent behavior of a concrete filled steel tubular 共CFST兲 arch bridge based on the geometric compatibility principle, a step-by-
step time incremental process, and self-equilibrium equations. An experimental test on a scaled 共1:5兲 segmental model of the main arch
ribs of the Maocaojie Bridge was used to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed calculation method for evaluating the long-term
behavior of CFST arch bridge under sustained load. It is concluded that: 共1兲 the numerical results were in good agreement with the
experimental results, demonstrating that the proposed analytical model is capable of predicting long-term effects for CFST arch bridges;
共2兲 the stresses in the steel tubes increased, and the compressive stresses in the concrete decreased due to the effects of concrete creep and
shrinkage. The maximum relaxation of the compressive stress in concrete due to concrete creep was 52.7% of the initial concrete stress,
and the maximum increase of stress in the steel tubes was 27.3%; and 共3兲 more than 90% of the total creep of the concrete took place in
the first year. Subsequent creep of the concrete was limited because of the lack of water exchange between the structure and atmosphere
and the reduction of compressive stress in the concrete.
DOI: 10.1061/共ASCE兲1084-0702共2010兲15:1共98兲
CE Database subject headings: Bridges, arch; Steel; Concrete; Time dependence; Experimentation.
Author keywords: Concrete-filled steel tubular 共CFST兲 arch bridge; Time-dependent behavior; Experimental test; Segmental model.

Introduction CFST structure are smaller than those in reinforced concrete

structures.
Long-span concrete-filled steel tubular 共CFST兲 arch bridges are Concrete creep is complex and difficult to be measured accu-
often erected by the unbraced construction method. This involves rately. Numerous researches have studied the effects of the cross-
pumping the concrete into the steel tubes after the closure of the sectional stress redistribution and the internal force redistribution
hollow steel tubular arch ribs. The bridge decks are then prefab- of composite beams or columns 共Wu and Qu 1991; Gilbert and
ricated, transported and set in place with appropriate fixing. Steel Bradford 1995; Dezi et al. 1995; Ranzi and Bradford 2006; Peng
tubes bear loads prior to the placement of the concrete, which et al. 2007兲. Bažant 共1972兲 employed the age-adjusted effective
results in high initial stresses in the steel tubes. Once the concrete modulus method to predict creep of concrete. To validate the
is placed, concrete creep leads to a reduction of compressive analytical model, a series of laboratory tests on full-scale simply
stress in the concrete and a corresponding increase of stress in the supported composite beams were undertaken at the University of
steel tubes. Previous investigations have shown that stresses in New South Wales 共Bradford and Gilbert 1991兲. Relatively little
steel tubes may increase 40–50% because of concrete creep 共Chen research has been focused on the time-dependent behavior of
1999; Zhou and Gu 1996; Gu and Liu 2001兲. The gradual reduc- CFST arch bridges under sustained loads.
tion of compressive stress in the concrete results in the decrease This paper presents an analytical model for CFST arch struc-
of concrete creep at a later stage, As a result, creep effects in tures under sustained loads. The strains predicted by the analytical
model are compared to the measured response of the segmental
1
Professor, College of Civil Engineering, Hunan Univ., Changsha,
arch ribs of a model structure tested in the laboratory. Finally, the
Hunan 410082, China. E-mail: shaoxd@hnu.cn analytical model was used to evaluate the time-dependent behav-
2
Lecturer, College of Civil Engineering, Hunan Univ., Changsha, ior of the main arch rib of the Maocaojie Bridge.
Hunan 410082, School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Changsha
Univ. of Science and Technology, Changsha, Hunan 410076, China 共cor-
responding author兲. E-mail: pengjianxin@hnu.cn
3
Professor, College of Civil Engineering, Hunan Univ., Changsha,
Hunan 410082, China. E-mail: hdllf@21cn.com
4
Associate Professor, College of Civil Engineering, Hunan Univ.,
Changsha, Hunan 410082, China. E-mail: yanbanfu@hnu.cn
5
Senior Engineer, Design Institute for Communic. Planning and Sur-
vey, Changsha, Hunan 410011, China. E-mail: hujianhua006@tom.com
Note. This manuscript was submitted on November 17, 2006; ap-
proved on July 27, 2009; published online on December 15, 2009. Dis-
cussion period open until June 1, 2010; separate discussions must be
submitted for individual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of
Bridge Engineering, Vol. 15, No. 1, January 1, 2010. ©ASCE, ISSN
1084-0702/2010/1-98–107/$25.00. Fig. 1. Elevation of Maocaojie Bridge 共unit: meter兲

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Table 1. Theoretical Scales of Physical Parameters arch bridge and the segmental model are listed in Tables 2 and 3,
Items Scales respectively.
Geometrical dimension 1:5 Experimental Setup
Modulus of elasticity 1:1 Details of the experimental setup of the one fifth scale model
Area of section 1:25 together with the loading system are shown in Figs. 2 and 3.
Inertia moment of section 1:625 Strains in both concrete and steel tubes at various critical sections
Resistance moment 1:125 along the segmental model were measured using strain gages. Fig.
Concentrated load 1:25 4 showed the locations of the strain gages, which were glued to
Uniformly distributed load 1:5 the surfaces of the steel tubes or embedded in the concrete of the
Density of material 5:1 segmental model.
Stress 1:1
Strain 1:1 Loading
Deformation 1:5 Consistent with the structural stress equivalence principle and
similarity principle, the effects of self-weight and live loads on
the actual bridge were simulated using ballast weights W1 共at 10
Scaled Segmental Model Test points兲, vertical forces V1 and V2, and horizontal forces H1 and
H2 共see Figs. 2 and 3兲. The W1 共10 points兲 were imposed on the
segmental model using lever loading systems, the V1 and V2
Bridge Description were produced by three screw jacks installed on the top chord
The Maocaojie Bridge, located in Nanxian City, Hunan Province, tubes, and the H1 and H2 loads were produced by prestressed
China, and designed by the Hunan Provincial Design Institute for tendons stretched through the loading plate at the two ends of the
the communication planning and survey, is a three-span half- segmental model by using four hydraulic jacks.
through truss CFST tied arch bridge with a total length of 528 m As listed in Table 4, the incremental loads were applied to the
共three spans of 80, 368, and 80 m兲 and a width of 16.0 m 共see segmental model from Loading Cases 1–5. The loads acting on
Fig. 1兲. Each arch rib is composed of four 1.0 m diameter steel the segmental model can be described as follows 共see Fig. 2兲:
tubes. Structural analysis shows that the stresses in the steel tubes 1. As a result of the axial forces N and bending moment
at the arch crown are very high and their distributions are M carried by actual arch ribs, the axial forces H1 and H2
complex. From the viewpoint of structural safety, a scaled seg- are denoted as H1 = 1 / 2关N + 共M / 0.57兲兴 and H2 = 1 / 2关N
mental model analysis of the main arch ribs of this bridge was − 共M / 0.57兲兴;
therefore undertaken to investigate the stress distribution in the 2. The tension forces of the hangers V1 and V2 are applied to
CFST structure. arch ribs by the screw jacks located at the top surface of
main arch ribs, and;
3. The distributed ballast weights W1 act on the top chord tubes
Segmental Model Test via 10 lever loading systems at a spacing of 0.50 m.
Similarity
The scale of the segmental model to the actual arch ribs was 1:5, Theoretical Treatment
and its length and width were 4.80 m and 1.42 m, respectively.
The theoretical scales of physical parameters based on the simi-
Basic Hypotheses
larity principle are shown in Table 1. Consistent with the scales of
physical parameters in Table 1, the section properties of the actual The basic assumptions used in the theoretical analysis are:

Table 2. Section Properties of the Actual Bridge

Actual bridge
Yield strength Diameter Thickness
Items Material type 共MPa兲 共mm兲 共mm兲 Remarking
Top chord tubes 16Mn 335 1,000.00 24.00 Pumping C50
Bottom chord tubes 18.00 concrete into tubes
Web tubes A3 235 550.00 10.00

Table 3. Section Properties of the Segmental Model

Segmental model
Yield strength Diameter Thickness
Items Material type 共MPa兲 共mm兲 共mm兲 Remarking
Top chord tubes 16Mn 335 200.00 4.58 Pumping C50
Bottom chord tubes 3.88 concrete into tubes
Web tubes A3 235 110.00 2.00
Note: According to the scales, the thicknesses of top and bottom chord tubes of the segmental model should be 4.80 and 3.60 mm, respectively, but the
thicknesses were chosen as listed in Table 3 due to lack of these two types of steel material in the market.

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Fig. 2. Details of segmental model tests 共unit: meter兲
1. A linear relationship between the concrete creep strain ␧ and
the concrete stress ␴ at any time t;
2. Cross sections remain plane;
3. Concrete shrinkage in the analytical model was neglected
because there was no significant shrinkage effect in the
sealed concrete 共this was verified by tests on CFST speci-
mens under similar condition at the Hunan University兲; and
4. The elastic modulus of concrete remains constant.
Creep Self-Stress
For CFST structures, creep of concrete is restricted by the steel
tubes, which induces restraint stresses in the concrete. This kind
of stress in the paper is called as “creep self-stress” and repre-
sented by ␴zc共t兲.
Fig. 5 shows a typical cross section of the arch rib chosen to
analyze the time-dependent stresses. For the fiber located at a
distance y from the centroid G of the cross section, the actual
strain increment ⌬␧fact共ti , ti−1兲 at time interval ⌬ti can be calcu-
lated as
⌬␧fact共ti,ti−1兲 = ⌬␧0共ti,ti−1兲 + y⌬␺共ti,ti−1兲
where ⌬␧0共ti , ti−1兲 = strain increment on the centroidal axes of
共1兲
the cross section at time interval ⌬ti from ti−1 to ti , i
= 1 , 2 , . . . , n ; ti−1 = time at time step i − 1; ti = time at time step i;
⌬␺共ti , ti−1兲 = curvature increment of the cross section from ti−1 to
ti; and y = distance between the fiber and centroidal axes of the
cross section.
Concrete will deform freely in the case of no restraint. Sup-
pose that the free strain increment ⌬␧free共ti , ti−1兲 at the fiber lo-
cated at a distance y from centroidal G is induced by concrete
Fig. 3. Photograph of experimental setup
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Fig. 4. Strain measurement for the segmental model 共unit: meter兲
creep. Because the cross-sectional deformation must remain plane
and the concrete cannot deform freely under the restraint of the
steel tubes, the actual strain increment is smaller than the free
strain increment with the stresses in the concrete being transferred
to the steel tubes. Thus, the restraint of the steel tubes leads to the
stress redistribution between the steel tubes and the concrete.
Hence the elastic strain increment corresponding to the stress in-
crement of concrete can be computed as
⌬␧e,c共ti,ti−1兲 = ⌬␧fact共ti,ti−1兲 − ⌬␧free共ti,ti−1兲 共2兲
where ⌬␧free共ti , ti−1兲 and ⌬␧e,c共ti , ti−1兲 are the free strain increment
and the elastic strain increment of concrete at the time interval
⌬ti, respectively.
Creep self-stress ⌬␴zc共ti , ti−1兲 at the time interval ⌬ti can be
obtained by the constitutive relationship of the concrete. There-
fore, ⌬␴zc共ti , ti−1兲 can be expressed as
⌬␴zc共ti,ti−1兲 = Ec关⌬␧fact共ti,ti−1兲 − ⌬␧free共ti,ti−1兲兴 共3兲
where Ec = elastic modulus of concrete.
As the strain increment of steel tubes is equal to the actual
strain increment ⌬␧fact共ti , ti−1兲, the stress increment of steel tubes
⌬␴s共ti , ti−1兲 can be presented as
⌬␴s共ti,ti−1兲 = Es关⌬␧0共ti,ti−1兲 + y⌬␺共ti,ti−1兲兴 共4兲
where Es = elastic modulus of steel tubes.
Based on symmetry of the cross section, the following integral
equations of Ac and As can be easily obtained as
冕 Ac共s兲
y⌬␺共ti,ti−1兲dA = 0 共5a兲
冕
y⌬␧0共ti,ti−1兲dA = 0 共5b兲
Ac共s兲
where Ac = concrete area and As = steel tube area.
According to Eqs. 共2兲–共4兲, the total axial force and bending
moment increment of the concrete and steel tube are respectively
determined by the following integral equations of Ac and As can
be deduced as
Fig. 5. Strain distribution of a typical cross section
⌬Nc共ti,ti−1兲 = 冕Ac
⌬␴zc共ti,ti−1兲dA = 冕 Ac
Ec兵关⌬␧0共ti,ti−1兲 EcAc⌬␧0共ti,ti−1兲 − Ec 冕 Ac
⌬␧free共ti,ti−1兲dA + EsAs⌬␧0共ti,ti−1兲 = 0

+ y⌬␺共ti,ti−1兲兴 − ⌬␧free共ti,ti−1兲其dA = EcAc⌬␧0共ti,ti−1兲 共8a兲

− Ec 冕 Ac
⌬␧free共ti,ti−1兲dA 共6a兲
EcIc⌬␺共ti,ti−1兲 − Ec 冕 Ac
y · ⌬␧free共ti,ti−1兲dA + EsIs⌬␺共ti,ti−1兲 = 0

共8b兲
⌬M c共ti,ti−1兲 = 冕 Ac
y⌬␴zc共ti,ti−1兲dA = 冕 Ac
Ec兵关⌬␧0共ti,ti−1兲 Assuming that: transformed area A0 : A0 = 关EcAc + EsAs兴 / Ec and
transformed inertia moment I0 : I0 = 关EsIs + EcIc兴 / Ec Hence,
+ y⌬␺共ti,ti−1兲兴 − ⌬␧free共ti,ti−1兲其ydA = EcIc⌬␺共ti,ti−1兲 ⌬␧0共ti , ti−1兲 and ⌬␺共ti , ti−1兲 can be denoted as

− Ec 冕 Ac
y⌬␧free共ti,ti−1兲dA 共6b兲 ⌬␧0共ti,ti−1兲 = 冕 Ac
⌬␧free共ti,ti−1兲dA/A0 共9a兲

⌬Ns共ti,ti−1兲 = 冕 ⌬␴s共ti,ti−1兲dA = 冕 Es关⌬␧0共ti,ti−1兲

⌬␺共ti,ti−1兲 = 冕 Ac
y⌬␧free共ti,ti−1兲dA/I0 共9b兲
As As
By substituting Eqs. 共9a兲 and 共9b兲 into Eqs. 共6a兲–共6d兲, the
+ y⌬␺共ti,ti−1兲兴dA = EsAs⌬␧0共ti,ti−1兲 共6c兲 internal force increments of the concrete and steel tubes at the
time interval ⌬ti can be obtained, respectively.

⌬M s共ti,ti−1兲 = 冕 As
y⌬␴s共ti,ti−1兲dA = 冕 As
Es关⌬␧0共ti,ti−1兲
It should be noted that the effects of concrete creep result in a
time-dependent reduction of the compressive stresses in the con-
crete filled steel tubes. Hence, the calculation of the free strain
+ y⌬␺共ti,ti−1兲兴ydA = EsIs⌬␺共ti,ti−1兲 共6d兲 increment ⌬␧free共ti , ti−1兲 requires a strain incremental process
where Ic = moment of inertia of concrete; Is = moment of inertia of ␧c共ti−1兲 = ␴c共t0兲关1 + ␸共ti−1,t0兲兴/E共t0兲

冕
steel tube; ⌬Nc共ti , ti−1兲, ⌬M c共ti , ti−1兲, ⌬Ns共ti , ti−1兲, and ti−1
⌬M s共ti , ti−1兲 = total axial force increment and the total bending + 关⳵ ␴c共␶兲/⳵ ␶兴关1 + ␸共ti−1,␶兲/E共t0兲兴d␶ 共10兲
moment increment of the concrete, and the total axial force incre- ␶0
ment, and the total bending moment increment of the steel tube at
the time interval ⌬ti, respectively. ␧c共ti兲 = ␴c共t0兲关1 + ␸共ti,t0兲兴/E共t0兲

冕
Since there are no forces acted on the cross section at the time ti
interval ⌬ti, the total axial force increment and the total bending + 关⳵ ␴c共␶兲/⳵ ␶兴关1 + ␸共ti,␶兲/E共t0兲兴d␶ 共11兲
moment increment of the cross section should both be equal to 0, ␶0
that is
⌬␧free共ti,ti−1兲 = ␧c共ti兲 − ␧c共ti−1兲 = ␴共t0兲关␸共ti,t0兲 − ␸共ti−1,t0兲兴/E共t0兲
⌬Nc共ti,ti−1兲 + ⌬Ns共ti,ti−1兲 = 0 共7a兲
+ 关␴c共ti兲 − ␴c共ti−1兲兴/E共t0兲

冕
t
⌬M c共ti,ti−1兲 + ⌬M s共ti,ti−1兲 = 0 共7b兲
+ 关d␴c共␶兲d␶兴关␸共ti,t j兲 − ␸共ti−1,t j兲兴d␶/E共t0兲
By substituting Eqs. 共6a兲–共6d兲, 共7a兲, and 共7b兲, then ␶0

Table 4. Loading Level of the Segmental Model

Loading level
共kN兲
Loading cases Test contents W1 V1 V2 H1 H2
1 Hollow steel tubes state ¬ 0.206 0.0 0.0 2 ⫻ 45.00 2 ⫻ 25.00
共without pumping concrete into steel tubes兲 − 0.412 0.0 0.0 2 ⫻ 90.00 2 ⫻ 50.00
2 CFST state 共without installing bridge decks兲 ¬ 1.134 3.20 3.20 2 ⫻ 170.00 2 ⫻ 125.00
− 1.855 6.40 6.40 2 ⫻ 250.00 2 ⫻ 200.00
3 Completion state 共bridge construction completion兲 ¬ 1.855 9.55 9.55 2 ⫻ 370.00 2 ⫻ 290.00
− 12.70 12.70 2 ⫻ 490.00 2 ⫻ 380.00
4 Service limit state ¬ 1.855 20.98 20.98 2 ⫻ 527.50 2 ⫻ 413.50
− 29.26 29.26 2 ⫻ 565.00 2 ⫻ 447.00
5 Ultimate limit state 1.855 35.884 35.884 2 ⫻ 693.00 2 ⫻ 549.80
1.1⫻ ultimate limit state ¬ 1.855 39.472 39.472 2 ⫻ 762.30 2 ⫻ 604.80
1.2⫻ ultimate limit state − 1.855 43.061 43.061 2 ⫻ 831.60 2 ⫻ 660.00

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 冕
ti
+ 关d␴c共␶兲/d␶兴␸共ti,␶兲d␶/E共t0兲 共12兲
ti−1

where ␧c共ti兲 and ␧c共ti−1兲 = strain of the concrete at time ti and ti−1,
respectively; ␴c共ti兲, ␴c共ti−1兲, ␴c共t0兲, and ␴c共␶兲 = stress of the con-
crete at time ti, ti−1, t0, and ␶, respectively; E共t0兲 = elastic modulus
of concrete at time t0; ␸共ti , t0兲 and ␸共ti−1 , t0兲 = creep coefficients at
time ti and ti−1 for the loading time of t0, respectively; ␸共ti , t j兲 and
␸共ti−1 , t j兲 are creep coefficient at time ti and ti−1 for the loading
time of t j, respectively; and ␸共ti , ␶兲 = creep coefficient at time ti for
the loading time of ␶. Eq. 共12兲 contains four parts. The first part is
the contribution of the initial stress to ⌬␧free共ti , ti−1兲; the second
represents the contribution of the loading-induced stress incre-
ment to ⌬␧free共ti , ti−1兲 at the time interval ⌬ti; the third considers
the contribution of the stress history to ⌬␧free共ti , ti−1兲 at all previ-
ous time intervals; the last part is the contribution of creep-
induced stress increment to ⌬␧free共ti , ti−1兲 at the time interval ⌬ti.
The creep-induced stress increment at the time interval ⌬ti is
variable and difficult to be computed. Although more accurate
results can be obtained using a complex iterative procedure, the
simplified method presented by Shao and Cheng 共2003兲 is
adopted in this paper. It is assumed that the creep-induced stress
increment remains constant at the time interval ⌬ti, and the con-
tribution of the last part in Eq. 共12兲 to ⌬␧free共ti , ti−1兲 is neglected.
Note that the prediction accuracy of the analytical model can be
effectively improved by increasing the time steps.
The integral form of Eqs. 共10兲–共12兲 can be converted and rep-
resented in the form of the summation procedure as Eqs.
共13兲–共15兲
j=i−2
␧c共ti−1兲+ = ␧0关1 + ␸共ti−1,t0兲兴 + 兺
j=1
共⌬␧e,cr,j + ⌬␧e,load,j兲关1
+ ␸共ti−1,t j兲兴 + 共⌬␧e,cr,共i−1兲 + ⌬␧e,load,共i−1兲兲
j=i−1
Fig. 6. Concrete strain profile
Creep-Induced Additional Internal Forces and Stresses
Analysis
For statically indeterminate composite structures, the creep strain
increment ⌬␧0共ti , ti−1兲 and the curvature increment ⌬␺共ti , ti−1兲 共see
Fig. 5兲 are restricted by redundant restraints, which will create
additional creep-induced internal forces. The traditional force
method or displacement method of structural analysis are em-
ployed to solve creep-induced additional internal forces. In this
paper, the displacement method is used. For an isolated beam
element, the relationship between forces of beam ends and nodal
displacements in local coordinate system is shown in Fig. 7.
There are two nodes i and j for an isolated element. For node
i and j, there are three nodal displacements ui , vi , ␪i, three forces
of beam ends Ni , Qi , M i and u j , v j , ␪ j, N j , Q j , M j, respectively.
Note that the symbol ⫺ above the variables indicates that the
variables in Fig. 7 are in the local coordinate system. The super-
script “e” indicates a typically isolated element. The positive di-
rection of x̄ axis is from i to j, the positive direction of ȳ axis is
anticlockwise rotation 90º of the x̄ axis, the positive directions of
¯␪ and M̄ are clockwise, the positive directions of ū and N̄ consist
共13兲 with the x̄, and the positive directions of v̄ and Q̄ are consistent
with the ȳ.
In Fig. 7, the forces of beam ends and the nodal displacements

兺
can be written in vector form as
␧c共ti兲 = ␧0关1 + ␸共ti,t0兲兴 +
−
共⌬␧e,cr,j + ⌬␧e,load,j兲关1 + ␸共ti,t j兲兴

冤 冥 冤冥
j=1
N̄i ūi
共14兲
Q̄i v̄i
where ␧0 = initial strain of the concrete at time t0; ⌬␧e,cr,j and
⌬␧e,cr,共i−1兲 = strain increment of the concrete at jth and 共i − 1兲th M̄ i ¯␪
i
time step induced by concrete creep, respectively; ⌬␧e,load,j and 关F̄兴e = ; 关d̄兴e =
N̄ j ū j
⌬␧e,load,共i−1兲 are the strain increment of the concrete at jth and
共i − 1兲th time step induced by loading, respectively. Note that the v̄ j
Q̄ j
symbol “+” and “⫺” in Eqs. 共13兲 and 共14兲 respectively indicate ¯␪
j
the end and beginning time of ti 共see Fig. 6兲. The development M̄ j
procedure of concrete strain is illustrated in Fig. 6. Using conventional finite element analysis, the structural glo-
The creep-induced free strain increment at the time interval ⌬ti bal matrix displacement equation can be obtained as
can be calculated as

⌬␧free共ti,ti−1兲 = ␧共ti兲− − ␧共ti−1兲+ = ␧0关␸共ti,t0兲 − ␸共ti−1,t0兲兴

j=i−2

+ 兺
j=1
共⌬␧e,cr,j + ⌬␧e,load,j兲关␸共ti,t j兲 − ␸共ti−1,t j兲兴

+ 共⌬␧e,cr,共i−1兲 + ⌬␧e,load,共i−1兲兲␸共ti,ti−1兲 共15兲

According to Eq. 共15兲, the free strain increment ⌬␧free共ti , ti−1兲
is calculated by summing the three parts, then ⌬␧0共ti , ti−1兲 and
⌬␺共ti , ti−1兲 can be obtained by Eqs. 共9a兲 and 共9b兲. Thus, the creep-
induced stresses in concrete and steel tubes at each time interval
can be computed. Fig. 7. Isolated element analysis

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 关K兴 · 关⌬兴 = 关Fcr兴
where 关K兴 = structural global stiffness matrix; 关⌬兴 = nodal dis-
placement vector; and 关Fcr兴 = creep-induced loading vector, which
can be obtained by superposition of 关Fcr兴e of every isolated ele-
ment using coordinate transform.
The nodal creep-induced loading vector 关Fcr兴e of an isolated
element at the time interval ⌬ti can be represented as
冤 冥
Ni共ti,ti−1兲
Qi共ti,ti−1兲
M i共ti,ti−1兲
关Fcr兴e =
N j共ti,ti−1兲
Q j共ti,ti−1兲
M j共ti,ti−1兲
where Ni共ti , ti−1兲 = 共EcAc + EsAs兲⌬␧0共ti , ti−1兲 ; N j共ti , ti−1兲 = −Ni共ti ,
ti−1兲; M i共ti , ti−1兲 = 关EcIc + EsIs兴⌬␺共ti , ti−1兲 ; M j共ti , ti−1兲 = −M i共ti , ti−1兲;
and Qi共ti , ti−1兲 = Q j共ti , ti−1兲 = 关M i共ti , ti−1兲 + M j共ti , ti−1兲兴 / l = 0.
As the nodal displacement vector 关⌬兴 induced by con-
crete creep at the time interval ⌬ti is numerically solved, the
creep-induced additional internal forces Ncr共ti , ti−1兲 , Qcr共ti , ti−1兲 ,
M cr共ti , ti−1兲 at each time interval are computed using 关f兴e
= 关K兴e关⌬兴e of an isolated element.
For CFST composite structures, the creep-induced additional
internal forces of the composite section are allocated to the steel
tubes and the concrete as the following formulas, respectively
n = Es/Ec
M cr共ti,ti−1兲 = M c,cr共ti,ti−1兲 + M s,cr共ti,ti−1兲
Ncr共ti,ti−1兲 = Nc,cr共ti,ti−1兲 + Ns,cr共ti,ti−1兲
Nc,cr共ti,ti−1兲 = AcNcr共ti,ti−1兲/A0
Ns,cr共ti,ti−1兲 = nAsNcr共ti,ti−1兲/A0
M c,cr共ti,ti−1兲 = IcM cr共ti,ti−1兲/I0
M s,cr共ti,ti−1兲 = nIsM cr共ti,ti−1兲/I0
where n = ratio of elastic modulus and Nc,cr共ti , ti−1兲 , Ns,cr共ti , ti−1兲 are
the creep-induced additional axial forces of the concrete and the
steel tube at time interval ⌬ti, respectively. M c,cr共ti , ti−1兲 ,
M s,cr共ti , ti−1兲 are the creep-induced additional bending moments of
the concrete and the steel tube at time interval ⌬ti, respectively.
The relationships of the parameters are illustrated in Fig. 8.
For statically indeterminate structures, the creep-induced addi-
tional stress increment of the steel tube and the concrete at the
fiber located at a distance y from centroid G of the cross section
at time interval ⌬ti can be respectively obtained as
⬘ 共ti,ti−1兲 = Ns,cr共ti,ti−1兲/As + yM s,cr共ti,ti−1兲/Is
⌬␴zs
⬘ 共ti,ti−1兲 = Nc,cr共ti,ti−1兲/Ac + yM c,cr共ti,ti−1兲/Ic
⌬␴zc
where ␴zs⬘ 共ti , ti−1兲 = creep-induced additional stress of the steel
tube and ␴zc⬘ 共ti , ti−1兲 = creep-induced additional stress of the con-
crete.
Therefore, the creep-induced stress increment of the steel tube
and the concrete can be respectively calculated as
⬘ 共ti,ti−1兲 + Es⌬␧fact共ti,ti−1兲
⌬␴s,cr共ti,ti−1兲 = ⌬␴zs
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共16兲
Fig. 8. Creep-induced internal forces distribution of a typical cross
section
共17兲
⬘ 共ti,ti−1兲 + Ec关⌬␧fact共ti,ti−1兲 − ⌬␧free共ti,ti−1兲兴
⌬␴c,cr共ti,ti−1兲 = ⌬␴zc
共20b兲
where ⌬␴s,cr共ti , ti−1兲 = creep-induced stress increment of the steel
tube and ⌬␴c,cr共ti , ti−1兲 = creep-induced stress increment of the
concrete.
Thus, the total stress increment of the steel tube and the con-
crete at time ti are computed as
⌬␴s共ti,ti−1兲 = ⌬␴s,cr共ti,ti−1兲 + ⌬␴s,e,load共ti兲 共21a兲
⌬␴c共ti,ti−1兲 = ⌬␴c,cr共ti,ti−1兲 + ⌬␴c,e,load共ti兲 共21b兲
where ⌬␴s共ti , ti−1兲 = total stress increment of the steel tube;
⌬␴c共ti , ti−1兲 = total stress increment of the concrete; ⌬␴s,e,load共ti兲
= loading-induced stress increment of the steel tube; and
共18a兲
⌬␴c,e,load共ti兲 = loading-induced stress increment of the concrete. A
computer program termed as CFSTCREEP has been developed to
共18b兲
evaluate the creep effects on CFST arch bridges based on the
aforementioned formulations.
共18c兲
共18d兲 Experimental Verification
共18e兲
Concrete Shrinkage
共18f兲 The effects of sealed concrete shrinkage are not very obvious
because the sealed concrete in steel tubes has no water loss to the
共18g兲 ambient environment, and the compressive stresses in the con-
crete due to concrete creep reduce gradually. Tests on CFST
specimens were carried out 关see Figs. 9共a and b兲兴 to measure the
shrinkage strains of concrete under the same ambient environ-
ment. It was found that the concrete shrinkage strains are much
smaller than the total strains in the concrete. Hence, shrinkage
strains in concrete can be eliminated from the total strains to
obtain the creep strains in concrete.
Comparisons of Long-Term Strains
A scaled segmental model over a period of 834 days in the labo-
共19a兲 ratory at the Hunan University was undertaken to validate the
analytical model. The measured long-term strains and stresses of
the segmental model were compared with the theoretical results.
共19b兲
The sustained loads were applied to the sealed segmental
model of the arch crown of CFST arch bridge. The fabrication of
the segmental model was completed in March 2002, and the load-
ing procedure was carried out in April 2002. The loading step is
shown in Table 4. Observation of creep was performed for ap-
proximately two years under the loads corresponding to the ser-
viceability limit state, and an additional half-a-year observation of
共20a兲 creep was carried out under ultimate limit state loads.

Fig. 9. Photographs of shrinkage tests on CFST specimens
The concrete creep coefficient in the study was based on
CEB-FIP model code 共1991兲, the parameters in the CEB model
used for analysis were set as: t0 = 28 days, RH= 90%, and
h ⬎ 1 , 300 mm. The results are shown in Figs. 10 and 11.
As shown in Fig. 10, at serviceability limit state loads, the
average concrete strains in the arch crown of the top chord tube
varied from 262 ␮␧ to 357 ␮␧ with an increase of 36.3% in
about 2 years, while at ultimate limit state loads, the concrete
strains at the same location only increased from 483 ␮␧ to
489 ␮␧ with an increase of 2.2% from 684 to 843 days.
As seen in Fig. 11, due to the effects of concrete creep, at the
serviceability limit state loads, the strains in the steel tube on the
top flange of the top chord tube changed from 769 ␮␧ to 901 ␮␧
Fig. 10. Average concrete strains of the arch crown of the top chord
steel tube
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Fig. 11. Strains of the top flange of the arch crown of the top chord
steel tube
in about 2 years. At the ultimate limit state loads, the strains in the
steel tube at the same location increased from 1 , 027 ␮␧ to
1055 ␮␧, which indicates that the variation of stress in the steel
tubes is not obvious.
Note that about 90% of the total creep strains took place in the
first year for the serviceability limit state loads. After 684 days of
creep observation on the CFST structures at serviceability limit
state loads, the model was loaded to the ultimate limit state loads.
It was found that the rate of concrete creep did not vary remark-
ably.
As shown in Figs. 10 and 11, good agreement was obtained
between the experimental and numerical results. The developed
method in this paper is particularly suitable for evaluating the
structural time-dependent behavior of CFST arch bridges.
Long-Term Stresses
The comparisons of the experimental and theoretical long-term
stresses for the segmental model are plotted in Figs. 12 and 13. It
can be seen that the time-dependent stresses redistribution of
CFST arch bridge mainly occurs in the first year due to creep of
concrete.
As indicated in Figs. 12 and 13, at an early age, the measured
results are a little smaller than the predicted results, and creep of
the concrete develops gradually, because there is no exchange
between the sealed concrete in the steel tubes and the ambient
environment. However the theoretical results agree well with the
experimental results in the final stage.
Long-Term Behavior of the Main Arch Ribs
of the Maocaojie Bridge
Finite-Element Model
The effects of concrete creep of the main arch ribs of the Mao-
caojie Bridge for more than 2 years were evaluated using the
proposed analytical model. The dead loads of the hangers were
simulated as the nodal loads acted on the main arch ribs. Fig. 14
shows the finite element model of the real bridge.

Fig. 12. Average concrete stresses of the arch crown of the bottom
chord steel tube
Stress Redistribution
The calculated 2-year time-dependent results of the real bridge
are plotted in Figs. 15 and 16.
It is significant to note that the stresses in the top flange of the
arch crown of the steel tube vary from 173.56 to 209.98 MPa,
increasing 20.80% in 2 years. Stresses in the bottom flange of the
arch crown of the steel tube change from 72.03 to 90.65 MPa,
increasing 25.85% in 2 years.
As shown in Fig. 16, the stresses in the core concrete of the
arch crown of the top chord tube vary from 8.86 to 4.76 MPa, and
Fig. 13. Stresses of the bottom flange of the arch crown of the
bottom chord steel tube
Fig. 14. Finite-element model of the main arch rib of Maocaojie
Bridge
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Fig. 15. Stresses profile in the steel tubes of arch crown
the stresses in the core concrete of the arch crown of the bottom
chord tube decrease from 4.38 to 2.31 MPa, reductions of 46.27
and 47.26% in 2 years, respectively.
It can therefore be concluded that the stress redistribution of
the main arch ribs is mainly caused by creep of the concrete.
Stresses in the steel tube increase, and those in the concrete relax.
The redistribution indicates that the concrete stresses are gradu-
ally transferred to the steel tubes, which may result in overstress-
ing of steel tubes.
Conclusions
This paper has described a simplified method and a related com-
puter program to evaluate the time-dependent behavior of CFST
arch bridges. An experimental test on a scaled 共1:5兲 segmental
model of the main arch ribs of the Maocaojie Bridge confirmed
the effectiveness of the proposed analytical model. It can be con-
cluded that:
1. Numerical results are in good agreement with experimental
results from a scale segmental model test over a period of
Fig. 16. Average stresses profile in the concrete of arch crown
 834 days, which demonstrates that the proposed analytical
model is particularly suitable for predicting long-term effects
in CFST arch bridges.
2. On the basis of the segmental model test, the maximum re-
laxation of creep-induced stress in the concrete was 52.7% of
the initial concrete stress, and the maximum increment of
stress in the steel tube was 27.3%. Stresses in the concrete
are gradually transferred to the steel tubes, which may result
in overstressing of the steel tubes.
3. More than 90% of the total concrete creep took place in the
first year, and all creep terminates after 2 years due to the
lack of water loss to the atmosphere and the reduction of
compressive stresses in the concrete.
4. Adequate accuracy can be obtained in the creep analysis of
CFST arch bridges, which proves the effectiveness of the
assumption that the creep-induced stresses in concrete re-
main constant at each time interval.
Acknowledgments
The writers gratefully acknowledge for the support of this re-
search work by the Ministry of Communications of China on
“Key Technology Research on Design, Construction and Mainte-
nance of Concrete Filled Steel Tubular Arch Bridges 共200 331
879 82 01兲.” The help of English revision from Emeritus Profes-
sor Adrian Page, who is a Professor of Civil Engineering in The
University of Newcastle, Australia, is much appreciated.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
Ac ⫽ concrete area;
As ⫽ area of steel tube;
A0 ⫽ transformed area;
A3 ⫽ a type of steel material in China, with the
yield strength of 235 MPa;
C50 ⫽ a grade of concrete, the design compression
strength of 150mm cube of 50 MPa;
E共t0兲 ⫽ elastic modulus of concrete at time t0;
关Fcr兴 ⫽ creep-induced loading vector;
Ic ⫽ inertia moment of concrete;
Is ⫽ inertia moment of steel tube;
I0 ⫽ transformed inertia moment;
i ⫽ time step;
关K兴 ⫽ structural global stiffness matrix;
M c,cr共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ creep-induced additional bending moment of
the concrete at time interval ⌬ti;
M s,cr共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ creep-induced additional bending moment of
the steel tube at time interval ⌬ti;
Nc,cr共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ creep-induced additional force of the concrete
at time interval ⌬ti;
Ns,cr共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ creep-induced additional force of the steel
tube at time interval ⌬ti;
n ⫽ ratio of elastic modulus;
ti−1 ⫽ time at time step i − 1;
ti ⫽ time at time step i;
t0 ⫽ concrete age at loading;
y ⫽ distance between calculative fiber and
centroidal axial on the cross section;
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关⌬兴 ⫽ nodal displacement vector;
⌬M c共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ total bending moment increment of the
concrete at the time interval ⌬ti;
⌬M s共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ total bending moment increment of the steel
tube at the time interval ⌬ti;
⌬Nc共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ total axial force increment of the concrete at
the time interval ⌬ti;
⌬Ns共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ total axial force increment of the steel tube at
the time interval ⌬ti;
⌬ti ⫽ time interval from ti−1 to ti;
⌬␧e,c共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ elastic strain increment at the time interval
⌬ti;
⌬␧e,cr,j ⫽ strain increment of the concrete at jth time
step induced by concrete creep;
⌬␧e,cr,共i−1兲 ⫽ strain increment of the concrete at 共i − 1兲th
time step induced by concrete creep;
⌬␧e,load,j ⫽ strain increment of the concrete at jth time
step induced by loading;
⌬␧e,load,共i−1兲 ⫽ strain increment of the concrete at 共i − 1兲th
time step induced by loading;
⌬␧fact共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ actual strain increment at the time interval
⌬ti;
⌬␧free共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ free strain increment at the time interval ⌬ti;
⌬␧0共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ initial strain increment at the time interval ⌬ti
at centroidal axial on the cross section;
⌬␴c共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ total stress increment of the concrete at the
time interval ⌬ti;
⌬␴c,cr共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ creep-induced stress increment of the concrete
at the time interval ⌬ti;
⌬␴c,e,load共ti兲 ⫽ loading-induced stress increment of the
concrete at time ti;
⌬␴s共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ total stress increment of the steel tube at the
time interval ⌬ti;
⌬␴s,cr共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ creep-induced stress increment of the steel
tube at the time interval ⌬ti;
⌬␴s,e,load共ti兲 ⫽ loading-induced stress increment of the steel
tube at time ti;
⌬␴zc共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ creep self-stress at the time interval ⌬ti;
⌬␴zc⬘ 共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ creep-induced additional stress increment of
the concrete at the time interval ⌬ti;
⌬␴zs⬘ 共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ creep-induced additional stress increment of
the steel tube at the time interval ⌬ti;
⌬␺共ti , ti−1兲 ⫽ curvature increment at the time interval ⌬ti;
␧c共ti−1兲 ⫽ strain of the concrete at time ti−1;
␧c共ti兲 ⫽ strain of the concrete at time ti;
␧0 ⫽ initial strain of the concrete at time t0;
␴c共ti兲 ⫽ stress of the concrete at time ti;
␴c共t0兲 ⫽ stress of the concrete at time t0;
␴c共ti−1兲 ⫽ stress of the concrete at time ti−1;
␴c共␶兲 ⫽ stress of the concrete at time ␶;
␸共ti , t0兲 ⫽ creep coefficient at time ti for the loading
time of t0;
␸共ti , t j兲 ⫽ creep coefficient at time ti for the loading
time of t j;
␸共ti , ␶兲 ⫽ creep coefficient at time ti for the loading
time of ␶;
␸共ti−1 , t0兲 ⫽ creep coefficient at time ti−1 for the loading
time of t0;
␸共ti−1 , t j兲 ⫽ creep coefficient at time ti−1 for the loading
time of t j; and
16Mn ⫽ a type of steel material in China, with the
yield strength of 335 MPa.
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