Comprehensive Design Solutions for Vehicular Bridges using Aluminium Alloys in a Multi-Material Context

《2019年加拿大基础设施报告卡》指出，“我们的基础设施状况正处于危险之中”。桥梁是这个老化的基础设施问题的核心。传统的建筑材料越来越容易受到日益增长的交通需求(即更大的流量和更重的负载)和日益苛刻的环境条件的影响。迫切需要为新的桥梁建设和修复大量有缺陷的桥梁制定更适当和更具创新性的工程解决方案。结构铝合金的使用提供了相当大的前景。铝是地壳中所有金属中最丰富的，具有几乎无限的可回收能力；加拿大是世界第四大原铝生产国。近年来，将铝合金应用于汽车桥梁建设的努力有所增加，包括最近在魁北克省ST-Ambroise建造了一座现代化的短跨度示范铝桥面桥梁。与更传统的建筑材料相比，铝材具有优异的强度重量比和耐久性(即耐大气腐蚀)，而且维护要求较低，这意味着铝材桥梁解决方案在快速施工方面提供了巨大的潜力，同时增加了交通承载能力，延长了使用寿命，并具有竞争力的桥梁总拥有成本。此外，材料的挤压性使设计者能够通过将材料放置在结构性能最大化和连接容易的区域来优化截面。到目前为止，这一潜力在很大程度上没有得到充分利用，主要原因是知识和经验不足、设计指南和规格不足，以及缺乏具有适当功能的计算机平台来促进设计过程。该研究计划建议全面发展技术知识，以便在多材料解决方案的背景下使用铝合金对车辆桥进行分析、设计和结构优化，并满足加拿大公路桥设计标准CSA S6的性能标准。该计划将基于先进的有限元和简化分析以及对部件和在役桥梁的实验室和现场测试，并将导致开发分析方程、分析和设计方法以及设计辅助工具。这些设计工具随后将被集成到最先进的计算环境中，类似于传统建筑材料使用的工具，并可供桥梁工程师使用，以帮助减少开发新的铝制桥梁设计所需的工作量。为此，加拿大可以将自己定位为使用铝合金建造车辆桥梁的创新领导者，加拿大人可以从世界级的现代公共基础设施中受益。

The 2019 Canada Infrastructure Report Card notes that "the state of our infrastructure is at risk". Bridges are at the center of this aging infrastructure problem. Traditional construction materials are becoming more and more vulnerable to the escalating traffic demand (i.e. higher volume and heavier loads) and the increasingly aggressive environmental conditions. There is an urgent need to develop more appropriate and innovative engineering solutions for new bridge construction and for the rehabilitation of the large inventory of deficient bridges. The use of structural aluminium alloys offers considerable promise. Aluminium is the most abundant of all metals in the earth's crust with a practically infinite recyclable capacity; Canada is the world's 4th largest producer of primary aluminium. Efforts to integrate aluminium alloys in vehicular bridge construction have increased in recent years, including the recent construction of a modern short-span demonstration aluminium decking bridge at St-Ambroise, Québec. Aluminium's superior strength-to-weight ratio and durability (i.e. resistance to atmospheric corrosion), and low maintenance requirements, compared with the more traditional construction materials, mean that a bridge solution in aluminium offers tremendous potential for rapid construction, while providing increased traffic load carrying capacity, extended service life and a competitive total cost of bridge ownership. Moreover, the material's extrudability property provides designers with the ability to optimise sections by placing the material in areas that maximise structural properties and joining ease. To date, this potential has largely been under-exploited due mainly to insufficient knowledge and experience, inadequate design guide and specifications, and the lack of computer platform with the appropriate functions to facilitate the design process. The research program proposes a comprehensive development of the technical knowledge that would permit the analysis, design and structural optimisation of vehicular bridges using aluminium alloys in the context of a multi-material solution, and that meets the performance criteria of the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Standard CSA S6. The program will be based on advanced finite element and simplified analyses and laboratory and field tests of components and in-service bridges, and would lead to the development of analytical equations, analysis and design methods, and design aids. These design tools will subsequently be integrated into a state-of-the-art computing environment, similar to those in use with traditional construction materials, and would be available to bridge engineers to help reduce the effort required to develop new bridge designs with aluminium. To this end, Canada can position herself as an innovation leader in the use of aluminium alloys for vehicular bridge construction, and Canadians can benefit from world-class, modern public infrastructure.