Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Integral Abutment Bridges: Single and Group Pile Behavior

Integral abutment bridges have been gaining wide popularity in the United States and neighboring countries for decades due to the rapid increase in maintenance costs associated with conventional bridges. The research objectives are to bridge the gap and obtain more insight into abutment piles in a jointless bridge system. A comprehensive research program, encompassing laboratory testing and numerical simulation, is needed to evaluate the performance of typical piles commonly used in the integral abutment bridges industry. The research will aim to evaluate and quantify the behavior of integral abutment-pile systems and examine any limitations of their use. Piles will be tested as single and group piles to achieve this objective. The experimental study will test two distinct configurations of steel H-piles and concrete-filled tubes (metal shells). The first configuration will comprise eleven single piles (eight H-sections and three MS) encased into a concrete cap. The second configuration will involve two sets of three piles (H-section and MS), each encased in a one-unit concrete abutment pile. The individual pile configuration will aim to study different parameters, such as the pile connection and pile ductility, under various orientations and loading magnitudes. The testing protocol will consist of low-cycle, lateral displacement amplitude combined with axial compressive load mimicking the prescribed loading that a pile in an integral abutment bridge would experience in the field.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $541545
• Contract Numbers:

  R27-265

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Illinois Department of Transportation

  Bureau of Materials and Physical Research
  126 East Ash Street
  Springfield, IL  United States  62704-4766
• Managing Organizations:

  University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

  Illinois Center for Transportation
  1611 Titan Drive
  Rantoul, IL  United States  61866
• Principal Investigators:

  Issa, Mohsen

  Ansari, Farhad

• Start Date: 20240102
• Expected Completion Date: 20261231
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Abutments; Bridge design; Load tests; Performance tests; Support piles; Tubing
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01903882
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Illinois Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: R27-265
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jan 2 2024 9:55AM