Rational and precise evaluation for ultimate flexural capacity is essential for accurate prediction of the safety margin and overload capacity of existing bridges. One of the spans of a 28- year-old distressed simply supported T-girder bridge with a span of 20 m was severely damaged, and the decision to replace it with new one was made. A field destructive load test of this distressed span was performed. A nonlinear finite-element model technique was used to predict the failure load and retrace the load-versus-deflection response. The ultimate flexural capacity obtained by the destructive load test was compared with the results of a limit-states design method. The comparison revealed that the ultimate flexural capacity of the distressed bridge was more than the bending moment produced by the combined effect of self-weight and overloaded vehicles plying over it, which explains why the bridge supported overloaded vehicles for many years.

Using steel plates attached with epoxy resin adhesive to strengthen prestressed reinforced concrete bridges has become a common method to increase bearing capacity in engineering because of the simple technology, low cost and good strengthening effects. The strengthening method of steel plates has been gradually applied to repair damaged bridges in practical engineering. After a cross-line box girder bridge was struck by a vehicle, the steel bars and concrete of a damaged girder were repaired and strengthened by steel plates, and then the ultimate bending bearing capacity was studied through a destructive test. The results of the destructive test were compared with those of an undamaged girder to verify the effect of the repair and strengthening of the damaged girder. The results showed that the actual flexural bearing capacity of the repaired girder strengthened by steel plates was 1.63 times the theoretical bearing capacity, 36.7% more than that of the damaged girder and 95.3% of that of an undamaged girder. The flexural cracking moment of the repaired girder strengthened by steel plates reached 66.3% of that of the undamaged girder. The maximum crack width decreased by 24.6%, and the maximum deflection increased by 2.7%, compared with the undamaged girder when the repaired girder strengthened by steel plates finally failed. Moreover, this method of attaching steel plates can increase the ductility of bridges and reduce the degree of cracking. Additionally, the actual safety factor of the repaired girder was greater than three, and it had a large safety reserve.

Taking an example of a continuous steel-concrete composite beam bridge with single column piers under a ramp, a space finite element model was built. According to the structure characteristics and relevant design manual, an anti-overturning stability analysis of the bridge under the design limit load was conducted, and a practical vehicle load and possible arrangement of different forms of the load were analyzed. A further study on the influence of related parameters of anti-overturning stability was developed to determine the probability of overturning under extreme load arrangement. Finally, a field-loading test with the designed vehicle arrangement was conducted to investigate the experimental anti-overturning stability properties of the designed bridge. The test results were used to further verify the consistency of the related standards about the anti-overturning stability of this kind of bridge. Some suggestions to avoid the corresponding accidents are provided.

In order to study the dynamic response characteristics of a pile-soil foundation when an adjacent tunnel exists, both model tests and numerical simulations were performed in this study. Taking the peak vibration acceleration, peak vibration velocity, and peak vibration displacement as the evaluation indexes of the dynamic response, the dynamic response of the pile-soil foundation with an adjacent tunnel under high-speed train loads is studied. A method of dividing the affected zones of the dynamic response based on the safety threshold is provided in this paper, which can evaluate the safety of the adjacent tunnel under the action of train load. Additionally, the effect of train speed on dynamic response is further analyzed. The results show that the dynamic response index inside the foundation decays significantly with increasing distance from the surface when the train load is applied, regardless of the presence or absence of the adjacent tunnel. Compared with an ordinary pile-soil foundation, the dynamic response indexes inside the foundation increase significantly when there is an adjacent tunnel. With the increase in the horizontal distance from the pile foundation, the distribution characteristics of the horizontal transverse direction of each dynamic response index inside the foundation change from a “wavy” distribution to a monotonically decreasing distribution. According to the safety threshold of vibration velocity, the foundation is divided into the hazardous affected zone, strongly affected zone, and weakly affected zone, and then the corresponding vibration reduction measures are adopted. With the increase in train speed, the effect of tunnel structure on the attenuation of dynamic response in a pile-soil foundation becomes more obvious.

Critical for the seismic safety of immersed tunnels is the magnitude of deformation and force developing in the segment joints. To investigate the seismic performance of segment joint in immersed tunnel, this paper presents a series of shaking table arrays tests that were performed on a microconcrete tunnel model embedded in the soil. The tests take account of the uniform and wave passage effect in different apparent wave velocity of longitudinal seismic excitation. The result showed that the wave passage effect had a great impact on axial force, bending moment and deformation of joints. The comparison showed that structural response under nonuniform earthquake excitation is larger than that under uniform excitation. The simplified model was established in ABAQUS for numerical analysis. The soil around the tunnel was simplified as spring-damper, the tunnel was simplified as beam element, and the joint was simulated by nonlinear spring. The numerical simulation results were in good agreement with the experimental data. In addition, the model was analyzed by changing input apparent wave velocity, joint stiffness and joint number. The results showed that the deformation of joints was smaller and the deformation of flexible joints was greater under high apparent wave velocity.

Precise evaluation for flexural ultimate capacity of bridges which are subjected to the collision of over-height trucks is essential for making decisions on corresponding maintenance, strengthening or replacement. When the span of a cross-line continuous bridge with a double-box girder was hit by an overly high vehicle, the concrete floor of one girder was severely damaged, and part of the prestressed strands and reinforcements in the girder were broken. After the double-box girder was removed and separated into two single box girders, the ultimate flexural capacity of both box girders was studied by destructive tests, and a comparison was made between the damaged and undamaged girders. Moreover, finite element analysis was conducted to simulate the failure process. The results show that the flexural bearing capacity of the damaged box girder decreased by 33%, but it was still 1.07 times greater than the design bearing capacity, which basically meets the design requirements. Also, the damaged box girder showed a desirable serviceable limit state for three-axle vehicles and five-axle vehicles, but showed an undesirable serviceable limit state for six-axle vehicles. This study shows that repairing or strengthening the damaged span may be better than demolishing and rebuilding the whole superstructure bridge.