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Industrial bridge engineering - structural developments for more efficient bridge construction

Harryson, Peter

The multidisciplinary research presented in this thesis investigates different means of creating an industrial process for bridge construction while emphasising the vast importance of structural engineering in combination with industrial issues. Applications of new or approved techniques, materials technology and developments, methods of design and analysis, as well as construction methods are important areas that have been considered. One objective in the presented work is to establish the foundations for attaining such a new process - basically through analysis of the current bridge construction process - as well as to determine the required improvements needed to provide a framework for a new industrial process. Furthermore, a study of an innovative jointing technology for connections between prefabricated concrete elements in bridges has been conducted. The aim has been to design a joint that makes the surrounding elements continuous, but still a very small joint that is easy and fast to perform, and thus highly suitable for use in industrial bridge concepts. In addition, a feasibility study of a novel industrial bridge concept has been undertaken. The concept embraces ultra-high-performance steel-fibre-reinforced concrete in composite action with fibre-reinforced polymers. Several laboratory tests and finite element analyses have been conducted. The main focus has been to investigate new or approved techniques from a design viewpoint as a continuation of recent materials developments, while also considering industrial aspects and construction characteristics such as production methods, assembly, etc.