Study on the Causes of Asymmetric Cracking of Plateau Concrete Bridge Piers

To investigate the causes of asymmetric cracking of concrete in plateau bridge piers, on-site experiments were conducted to monitor and analyze the temperature characteristics and solar radiation of a plateau round-ended bridge pier. Combining with numerical simulation, the temperature stress fields of the bridge pier were calculated. Additionally, the degradation of concrete on the sunny surface of a pier and the effect of local wind field on concrete asymmetric cracking were investigated. The results indicated that as solar radiation intensity and duration increased, the temperature of the concrete surface increased, peaking at approximately 25°C. A wider temperature difference between the sunny and shady surfaces led to a greater temperature gradient and tensile stress, which could exceed 2 MPa, increasing the cracking risk on the sunny surface. The local wind field led to a more significant wind speed on the windward side of the pier, which also contributed to the asymmetric cracking of the plateau concrete bridge pier.