The Key parameters and form-finding of an innovative prefabricated steel bridge

Accelerated bridge construction is desired in urban areas or after natural disasters, thus, it has drawn the attention of the bridge community and transportation agencies worldwide. It has lead to the advancement of accelerated construction techniques using prefabricated bridge elements. In this paper, an innovative self-balanced bridge structure consisting of assembly truss units, flexible cables, and struts is proposed. All components of this truss string structure are fabricated in the precast plant before being shipped to the construction site, therefore reducing the amount of labor and time on-site significantly. The mechanical performance of this structure is studied with three-dimensional finite-element method under the influence of key parameters such as the number of struts, the distance between struts, sag-span ratio, and initial pretension. Parametric analysis of 6 pedestrian bridge models with typical span shows that the optimized structure form reduces steel consumption by up to 59.4% compared to regular truss structures.