Appearance Inspection‐Based Typical Damage Investigation of Concrete Curved Girder‐Type Bridges Subjected to Temperature and Vehicle Effect

ABSTRACT This study focuses primarily on concrete curved girder‐type bridges, which are commonly used for urban roads and highways. Over the last two decades, practical experience in bridge engineering has shown that these bridges have unique mechanical and damage characteristics, unlike conventional straight bridges. This paper is structured as follows: first, the typical application scenarios of concrete curved girder‐type bridges are described; second, the key parameters of concrete curved girder‐type bridges are analyzed; third, typical damage to existing concrete curved girder‐type bridges is tallied up; and finally, the results of two appearance inspections of concrete curved girder‐type bridges are presented. It is observed that the maximum displacement in the longitudinal direction of the bridge at the expansion joint could be 12 cm and the maximum shifting could be 17 cm. Moreover, the cracks in the bridge piers usually occur about 5 m from the bottom. A notable feature that distinguishes it from existing studies is that it is derived from engineering practice, rather than from traditional theoretical analysis, numerical simulation and scaled test, and is therefore highly practical and instructive. In fact, the damage of a curved girder‐type bridge is essentially the structural system problem of the bridge itself, and the intelligent monitoring may be proposed as a possible method of dealing effectively with this type of bridge. It is hoped that it will provide future researchers and engineers working in this field with some guidance.