PROBABILISTIC STUDY ON CONSTRUCTION ACCURACY OF STEEL BRIDGES

Bacause of the presence of various kinds of imperfections (or errors) introduced during construction processes of bridges, the geometrical shape and stress distribution do not always conform to those intended by designers when completed. Such construction errors represent important quality characteristics of the bridge. The authors present a methodology to evaluate stochastically the effects of imperfections, such as the variation of dead load and stiffness parameters and dimensional imperfections of each member, upon construction accuracy of bridges by applying stochastic finite element method. The effects of cable length adjustment, which is usually taken at the erection of cable systems, on construction accuracy are also taken into account. Through numerical examples, some useful and important informations concerning the quality control of steel bridges are obtained.