Question:We are currently designing a RC slab bridge with skewed angle of 20 degrees. I defined the traffic lanes by different ways as shown below. As seen in the image below, the 1st figure used the nearest longitudinal elements for eccentricity, while the right figure used the bottom longitudinal elements for eccentricity. Which one is correct??
Answer: Among the two figures, the left figure looks more reasonable. However, in order to consider the lane correctly in the skewed bridge, you need to consider the skew angle as shown below.
Also, Traffic Lane should be located on the cross beams since the vehicle loads will be distributed through cross beam when you select "Cross Beam" option in the Traffic Line Lane dialog box.
If you define the correct lane position which intersect cross beams, reference element location will not affect the analysis results.