Abstract
Integral abutment bridges (IABs) have been designed and constructed since the 1930s
around the world. In these bridges, the water leaking problems and maintenance issues of expansion
joints are minimized. However, the behaviors of IABs under temperature effects have not been
completely understood. In the state of Louisiana, the first full IAB, i.e., the Caminada Bay Bridge, was
built on the soft soil conditions in 2011. This paper presents a numerical investigation on the thermal
performance of this bridge using ANSYS software. Based on the analysis studies, the numerical
modeling methodology for IABs, i.e., temperature loadings, backfill–abutment interactions, and soil–
pile interactions, is validated by comparing the bridge response with the field measurements. In
addition, a parametric study is performed and demonstrated that the behavior of IABs is affected by
temperature loadings, boundary support types, backfills behind abutments, soils surrounding piles,
and p