| This study focuses on a three-span, curved steel I-girder bridge which was tested under three boundary condition states to determine its response to live load. The measured live-load strains were used to calibrate a finite-element model. The finite element design momoents and distribution factors for the three condition states were then compared with the results based on the V-load method. These different boundary conditions provided the researchers a unique oppotunity to evaluate the impact that these changes had on the bridges behavior. It was found that while the V-laod method produced positive bending momoents that were closed to the finit-element moments for some of the girders, this was a result of the V-load moment being unconservative and the distribution factor being conservative. |
