Analytical Methods for Temperature Field and Temperature Stress of Column Pier under Solar Radiation

Based on the previous research work, a new idea is proposed for analyzing the impact of solar radiation on the substructure of bridges. Investigation is conducted in the thermodynamic phenomena and temperature stress of a dual-column pier. Research is led to the thermal conductivity of concrete structure and the values of the environmental parameters under solar radiation. An analytical code is written for the thermal analysis of the dual-column pier using the parametric modeling function of FE software, by means of which the temperature distribution of the bridge structure is computed under solar radiation. Using the thermal analytical results, the temperature stress of the dual-column pier is further calculated. The results tell that the temperature gradient distribution curve inside the concrete of the pier fits favorably the curve defined in the design specification and coincides quite well with real situation, which verifies the new idea proposed in this paper. Under the solar radiation which is a time-variable nonlinear temperature load to the bridge, the maximum principal stress is found at the corner of the pier with the sign of negative, which is believed to threaten the safety of the substructure of bridge and is necessary to arouse emphasis.