Shear-lag behavior of prestressed concrete box-girder bridges during balanced cantilever construction

Balanced cantilever construction is extensively used in the construction of prestressed concrete (PSC) box-girder bridges. Shear-lag effect is usually considered in finished bridges, while the cumulative shear-lag effect in bridges during balanced cantilever construction is considered only rarely. In this paper, based on the balanced cantilever construction sequences of large-span PSC box-girder bridges, the difference method is employed to analyze the cumulative shear-lag effect of box girders with varying depth under the concrete segments' own weight. During cantilever construction, no negative shear-lag effect is generated, and the cumulative shear-lag effect under the balanced construction procedure is greater than the instantaneous shear-lag effect in which the full dead weight is applied to the entire cantilever. Three cross-sections of Jianjiang Bridge were chosen for the experimental observation of shear-lag effect, and the experimental results are in keeping with the theoretical results of cumulative shear-lag effect. The research indicates that only calculating the instantaneous shear-lag effect is not sufficiently safe for practical engineering purposes.