ACCURACY OF SPLINE FINITE STRIP INTEGRAL SCHEMES IN BRIDGE DECK ANALYSIS

Abstract

In the application of the spline finite strip procedure to the analysis of non-uniform slab structures, numerical integration schemes were applied to be able to incorporate the variable rigidities in the stiffness matrix expressions. This made possible the analysis of strips with variable thickness in the longitudinal direction. Earlier formulations of the analysis have used four Gauss integration points between spline section knots. This paper compares the performance of spline finite strip integral schemes for stiffness matrix evaluation using two, three and four Gauss integration points between spline section knots. The results of using the different schemes in analysing a slab bridge structure are compared with the ones obtained by using the finite element procedure. The comparison shows that the two point Gauss integral schemes provide satisfactory results for design purposes.