Field Monitoring and Numerical Analysis of the Effect of Air Temperature and Water Load on the Static Behavior of a Tied-Arch Aqueduct

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This study presents part of a pilot work for the structural health monitoring of a large tied-arch reinforced concrete aqueduct in eastern China. Based on field-monitored data for over a year, it mainly focuses on the effect of air temperature and water load variations on the static behavior of a typical span of the aqueduct through field monitoring and 3D FE model analysis. It is found that the longitudinal deformation of the composite tied-arch shows a good linear relationship with the air temperature during the non-operation period and also has a good bilinear correlation with the air temperature and water level during operation. However, isolation of the air temperature effect from the second bilinear correlation using the first linear relationship results in a poor correlation between the longitudinal deformation and water level due to the dominance of the temperature effect. Therefore, it is recommended to use the bilinear regression to predict the longitudinal deformation of the tied-arch during operation. The vertical deformation of the tied-arch is insignificantly affected by air temperature, whereas it shows a fair bilinear correlation with the air temperature and water level during operation, which can be used to provide a reasonable estimation of the vertical deformation of the tied-arch. The strain measurements of the tied-arch using vibrating-string gauges are more complicated due to the notable influence of the ambient temperature and solar radiation, but the relatively consistent bilinear regression of the strains versus the air temperature and water level can still give fair predictions for the strains of the bottom tension rods during operation. The 3D FE model can provide a fair estimation for the vertical deformation of the tied-arch under water load, but its predictions for longitudinal deformation and strains are less satisfactory when compared to monitored data excluding temperature effects.