International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE)

ISSN: 2277-3878, Volume-3, Issue-2, May 2014

Optimization of PSC Slab Bridges

Brij Kishor Kushwaha, N. G. Gore, P.J. Salunke

Abstract: The objective of this study is to investigate the Therefore, the designers have to do some optimization to
appropriate optimization method to find minimum weight and the arrive at such design. The objective of this Project is to
minimum cost of a Railway PSC slabs. In view of achieving this achieve the optimal design of a prestressed concrete Slab for
objective it is decided to develop a computer code in MATLAB7. Railway Bridge. It will establish a general relationship
After validating this computer code by comparing the results with among different design variables at optimum and will
analytical results, it is planned to carry out the economical and recommend a simple procedure to identify the optimum
safe design of PSC slab. For the minimum weight and cost design design.
of the PSC slab unit the following design variables are chosen: 1-
Depth of PSC slab unit at center, 2-Depth of PSC slab unit at Fig. 1
end, 3-Eccentricity of prestressing cable at center, & 4-Total
prestressing force.

Index terms: Prestressed concrete slab, Railway bridges,

Structural optimization, prestressing force, cost and weight
optimisation.

I. INTRODUCTION
The PSC slab is very important structure for small span
Railway Bridges. Indian Railway replacing steel girders by
PSC/RCC slabs on programme basis due to low
maintenance and economical cost. PSC slabs are most suited
for Railway Bridges of span 3m to 12m. The main drawback
of PSC slab is that PSC slabs are three times heavier than
steel plate girders. The launching of PSC slab is more
expensive due to its heavy weight. Hence, it is necessary to
optimise the design of PSC slab to get the light design and
minimum launching cost for such important structure. The
design of prestressed concrete slab for Railway bridges is
done based on Concrete Bridge code (CBC) of Indian
Railway Standards. The code requirement is generally
II. STRUCTURAL OPTIMIZATION
concerned with the safety of the structure in its lifetime.
RDSO issued standard drawings for simply supported pre Optimization is the act of obtaining the best result under
cast slabs for 6.1m, 9.15m, 12.2m, span Bridges for pre given circumstances. It can be also stated mathematically as
tensioned and post tensioned both methods. These precast "the process of finding the conditions that gives the
slabs are replaced in short duration traffic blocks. The maximum or minimum value of the function". The optimum
lightness of precast slabs is economical not only by material cost design of PSC slab formulated in is nonlinear
cost but also more economical for launching cost and cost of programming problem (NLPP) in which the objective
traffic block. Apart from satisfying the code requirement, function as well as Constraint equation is nonlinear function
the slab may be designed economically from RDSO of design variables. The Sequential Unconstrained
Drawings. For a given condition, there might be a large Minimization Technique (SUMT) is one of the methods for
number of alternatives that satisfy the requirements imposed the solution of the NLPP. In SUMT the constraint
by codes. But the designer must be in position to choose the minimization problem is converted into unconstraint one by
one, which is optimal against certain measure of optimality. introducing penalty function. In the present paper the
function f (X, r) is the penalty function f (X) and the
objective function r is the non negative penalty parameter,
and m is the total number of constraints. The penalty
function (X, r) is minimized as an unconstrained function of
X and r, for a fixed value of r. The present optimization
problem is solved by the interior penalty function method.
Manuscript Received on May 2014. DFP method is used for solving successive unconstrained
Brij Kishor Kushwaha is a Student of ME (struct.) of M.G.M.CET, minimization problems coupled with cubic interpolation
Navi Mumbai, India.
Prof. N. G. Gore, is a Professor, Civil Engineering Dept. of methods of on dimensional search. The program developed
M.G.M.CET, Navi Mumbai, India. by S.S. Rao for SUMT is used for the solution of the
Prof. P.J. Salunke, is a Professor, Civil Engineering Dept. of problem. The program is written in MATLAB language.
M.G.M.CET, Navi Mumbai, India.

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Optimization of PSC Slab Bridges

*+
III. FORMULATION G11= Maximum eccentricity = -1≤0
(.-*( )
*.
3.1 Design Variable G12= Max. prestressing force = -1≤0
(/.0 123&∗5!∗6 7)
The design variable in optimal design problem of restressed 8 9:5
G13= Minimum section modulus = -1≤0
8

3.3 Objective Function

The objective function in the present optimization problem
is the cost of PSC slab which main components are cost of
concrete, and pre stressing steel. It is assumed that cost of
steel, launching and casting formwork etc are directly
proportional to volume of concrete, hence all these cost are
included in the rate of concrete. It is also assumed that cost
of anchor, sheathing etc are directly proportional to volume
of prestressing steel, hence all these cost are included in the
rate of prestressing steel. Objective function can be
expressed as:
COST = (wt. of Pre stressing steel x Rate) + (Vol of
Concrete x Rate) or
Z = Vp x Rp + Vc x Rc
concrete elements includes concrete dimensions, restressing
force and the tendon eccentricity
Fig: 2
X1 = depth at center
X2 = depth at end
X3 = eccentricity of prestressing cable at center
X4 = Total prestressing force.
Span L, slab width b and nos. of voids are taken as pre-
assigned parameters.
3.2 Constraints
The restrictions that must be satisfied in order to produce an
acceptable design are collectively called design constraints
and formulated as below.
Normal Stress Constraint
G1= Stress in top fiber at transfer
–
= −1≥0
G2= Stress in bottom fiber at transfer

= −1≤0
G3= Stress in top fiber at service

= −1≤0
G4= Stress in bottom fiber at service

= −1≤0
Ultimate Strength, Shear Constraints
G5= Ultimate Strength = −1≤0
G6= Ultimate shear = −1≤0
!
G7= Maximum shear capacity =Vu/Vm-1 ≤ 0
Deflection Constraints
"
G8= Deflection check = −1 ≤0
"
Design Constraints
#
G9= Minimum depth at center = - 1≤ 0
$(& )
#(
G10= Minimum depth at end = -1≤0
$)

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International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE)
ISSN: 2277-3878, Volume-3, Issue-2, May 2014

Sr. No. Span Fck Weight of slab unit (KN) Cost of slab unit (Rs.)
(in
mm) As per RDSO Opt. RDSO vs opt. variation As per Opt. cost RDSO variation from
DRG wt wt from opt. RDSO vs opt. opt. M60
M60 DRG cost

1 3050 M40 57.74 51.69 11.7% 7.98% 78670 73508 7.0% 1.86%

2 3050 M50 57.74 51.57 12.0% 7.73% 79593 74235 7.2% 2.87%

3 3050 M60 57.74 47.87 20.6% 0.00% 80979 72167 12.2% 0.00%

4 6100 M40 178.61 146.04 22.3% 9.58% 243868 216093 12.9% 2.64%

5 6100 M50 166.79 134.21 24.3% 0.71% 236460 208140 13.6% -1.13%

6 6100 M60 166.79 133.27 25.2% 0.00% 240463 210526 14.2% 0.00%

7 9150 M40 315.88 279.91 12.9% 7.12% 401028 370341 8.3% 1.48%

8 9150 M50 315.88 265.44 19.0% 1.58% 406080 362250 12.1% -0.73%

9 9150 M60 315.88 261.31 20.9% 0.00% 413663 364930 13.4% 0.00%

10 12200 M40 593.8 414.92 43.1% 9.43% 732476 579896 26.3% 2.72%

11 12200 M50 593.8 387.37 53.3% 2.16% 741977 562588 31.9% -0.35%

12 12200 M60 593.8 379.17 56.6% 0.00% 756228 564561 33.9% 0.00%

13 15300 M40 610.31 10.85% 915859 3.26%

14 15300 M50 569.69 3.47% 890324 0.38%

15 15300 M60 550.58 0.00% 886926 0.00%

Table 1: Variation of Slab Cost and Weight for Different Span and Grade of Concrete
Optimised Weight in KN

600.00 850000
Optimised cost in Rs.

500.00 750000
650000
400.00
M40 550000 M40
300.00 M50 450000 M50
200.00 M60 350000 M60
250000
100.00
150000
0.00 50000
3050 6100 9150 12200 15300 3050 6100 9150 12200 15300
Span in mm Span in mm

Fig.:3: Optimized Weight and Cost for Various Span and Concrete Grade
SPAN (mm) SPAN (mm)
OPTIMUM COST (thousand)

OPTIMUM WEIGHT(KN)

3050 6100 9150 12200 15250

3050 6100 9150 12200 15250

Fig 4: Optimum Cost v/s Span Fig 5: Optimum Weight v/v Span

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Optimization of PSC Slab Bridges

IV. RESULT ANALYSIS REFERENCE

A computer code developed in MATLAB7 based on above 1. M. Z. Colin, F. ASCE and A. J. MacRae, “Optimization of structural
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results with analytical results, it is planned to carry out the
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Chung, Jae Suk Moon, “Proposal of Maglev Guideway Girder by
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is fully constrained design which is defined as the design JSCE conference Bangladesh, (2010), pp.211-223.
10. Mamoun Alqedra, Mohammed Arafa and Mohammed Ismail,
bounded by at least as many constraints as there are the “Optimum Cost of Prestressed and Reinforced Concrete Beams using
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• Significant savings in weight and cost over the pp.76-88.
11. Raquib Ahsan; Shohel Rana; and Sayeed Nurul Ghani, “Cost
normal design can be achieved by the optimization. Optimum Design of Post tensioned I-Girder Bridge using Global
However the actual percentage of the saving obtained for Optimization Algorithm,” Journal of Structural Engineering,
optimum design for PSC slab depend upon the span of slab, (2012),138, pp,273-284.
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prestressing tendons and grade of concrete (refer Table1). Leitch, “Optimization of Post-Tensioned Box Girder Bridges with
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standard design is achieved in PSC slab unit of 12200mm of LRFD Method,” Advances in Civil Engineering, (2012), pp.8
13. IS : 1343 – 1980: Indian Standard Code of Practice for Prestress
M40 grade concrete. Maximum weight reduction of 56.6% Concrete
over the RDSO standard design of PSC slab unit of 14. BS 5400Part 4: Code of practice for design of concrete bridges
12200mm span of M60 grade concrete( refer Table1). 15. Indian Railway Standard: Code of practice for Plain, Reinforced and
Prestressed concrete for General Brige construction (Concrete Bridge
• The optimum cost for a PSC slab is achieved in code)
M50 grade of concrete which is the average of M40 and 16. IRC-18-2000: Prestressed Concrete (Post -tensioned concrete).
M60 grade of concrete, but optimum weight for a PSC slab 17. Research Design & Standards Organization, Indian Railways:
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• The cost of PSC slab unit increased exponentially international publication.
(refer fig.4) with respect to span where as weight of PSC
slab unit increased linearly (refer fig.5) with respect to span. Brij Kishor Kushwaha, is a student of ME (struct.) of M.G.M.CET, Navi
Mumbai
Prof. N. G. Gore, is a Professor, Civil Engineering Dept. of M.G.M.CET,
V. CONCLUSION Navi Mumbai. &
The constrained optimization problem resulting from the Prof. P.J. Salunke, is a Professor, Civil Engineering Dept. of M.G.M.CET,
Navi Mumbai.
mathematical programming problems of optimum design of
prestress slab has been solved by SUMT. The constrained
optimisation has been converted into unconstrained, one by
interior penalty function method. DFP method was used for
solving the resulting unconstrained problems the one
dimensional minimization problem arising in DFP methods
is solved by cubic interpolation method. The computer
program is written in MATLAB. The optimized weight and
cost of PSC slab unit compared with conventional and
RDSO standard design. A significant cost savings and
weight reduction over the RDSO standard design and
conventional design is achieved by optimization.

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