Experimental investigations and sensitivity analysis to explain the large creep of concrete deformations in the bridge of Cheviré

In France, the vertical deflection measurements of Cheviré free end cantilever bridge have shown unexpected excessive creep deformations. To understand this phenomenon, a large experimental database coming from different laboratories and research centers is used to compare the creep experimental deformation results to the long-term deformation predicted by the design codes of practice. These codes include BPEL code that was used in designing Cheviré bridge and Eurocode 2 that is applied nowadays in structures designs. Then, a coupling between the reliability software PHIMECA and the finite element tool ST1 was performed to analyze the sensitivity measures of creep parameters of Cheviré bridge. The results showed that creep deformation is relatively underestimated in the codes considered. Moreover, the sensitivity study applied to Cheviré bridge showed that the parameters used in creep calculation are equally distributed in Eurocode 2 contrary to BPEL code. Thus, in this reliability assessment performed, Eurocode 2 gave better results regarding Cheviré bridge concrete creep strains predictions.