Time effects on the static response of concrete filled steel tubular arch bridges

This paper presents a finite element model implemented in ABAQUS to investiagte the longterm behaviour of CFST arch bridges and to highlight the influence of time effects on the overall structural response considering the construction sequence and geometric nonlinearities. The numerical results presented in the paper are based on a particular case study which consists of the Dong-Guan Waterway bridge. The ability of the proposed approach to predict the long-term response of CFST arch bridges has been validated against site measurements recorded during construction. It has been observed that the time-dependent behaviour of the concrete has a significant effect on displacements, stress distributions, and bending moment diagrams of CFST arches during construction and in service, while highlighting the importance of accounting for the actual times of loading when inserting applied actions in the analyses and for the presence the live loads.