EBEF METHOD FOR DISTORTIONAL ANALYSIS OF STEEL BOX-GIRDER BRIDGES

A practical approach to the distortional analysis of steel box girders is presented herein. The EBEF (equivalent beam on elastic foundation) method is an enhancement of the BEF (beam on elastic foundation) method, which has been widely used in design practice. Using the EBEF method on closed (or quasi-closed) box girder analysis provides a simplified procedure to account for the deformation of the cross section for the effect of rigid or flexible interior diaphrams and continuity over the supports. The methodology, numerical examples, and stiffness matrix are also presented in this paper.