Effects of construction stage and different soil conditions on the structural behavior of reinforced concrete bridges

In this thesis, structural behaviors of highway bridges are determined considering construction stages and different soil conditions. For this purpose, Kömürhan Highway Bridge located on the 51st km of Malatya-Elazığ Highway is selected and analytical studies are performed.Three main sections are considered in this thesis. In the first section of the thesis; background of structural behavior of highway bridges and analytical modeling procedures of highway bridges are represented. The second section of the thesis is separated to two main parts. In the first part, finite element model of Kömürhan Highway Bridge are constituted and static behavior of are determined. In the analysis, strong, medium and soft soil conditions are considered. At the end of the analysis, displacements, bending moments, shear forces and axial forces along to the bridge deck and along to height of the bridge column are given with detail. In the second part, geometric nonlinearity is taken into consideration in the analysis using P-Delta plus large displacement criterion. The time dependent material strength variations and geometric variations are included in the analysis. Elasticity modulus, creep and shrinkage are computed for different stages of the construction process. The structural behaviour of the bridge at different construction stages has been examined. In the third section of the thesis; conclusions and some suggestions related to the thesis study are represented. Lastly, references and autobiography are represented.