Numerical investigation of composite steel and precast reinforced concrete transom for Sydney Harbour Bridge under static loading

The Sydney Harbour Bridge requires the replacement of the timber transoms that currently reside in the railway system. Composite steel and precast reinforced concrete transoms have been proposed as the replacement for the current timber counterparts. In existing studies, it is found that there is little investigation into the effect of derailment loading on reinforced concrete transoms. This paper provides a continuation on a previous study of static loading on reinforced concrete transoms and investigates the failure behaviour through means of finite element analysis. The FEA commercial software known as ABAQUS was used to investigate the effect of static loading on the composite concrete transoms. The FE data accuracy was verified by comparing the existing experimental results. The experimental study and numerical investigation, transoms using AJAX bolts was shown to perform better than the welded headed shear studs. Additionally, the FE models produced in this study were validated by the results of the experimental study; however, further investigation into the damage properties is required before proper evaluation of the failure behaviour is determined.