International Concrete Abstracts Portal

A research project is currently underway at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, to establish the feasibility of an alternative structural system for short-span highway bridges. Concerns over the long-term durability of structural systems currently used in the 25 to 40 m span range provided the primary motivation for the study. The proposed system consists of a solid concrete slab that is externally prestressed. The external tendons are deviated at the third points of each span using struts. A 1:3-scale model bridge has been constructed and is currently being tested to verify the behavior of the bridge under permanent, service, and ultimate static loads, as well as dynamic and fatigue loads. The favorable results obtained thus far have confirmed the feasibility of the proposed structural system, and will serve as a basis for extending the concept to spans greater than 40 m in length.

An experimental investigation was conducted to examine the service and ultimate load behavior of segmentally precast box girder bridges with external post-tensioning tendons. A primary interest of this study was to examine the effect of joint type (dry versus epoxied joints) on the stiffness, strength, and ductility of the structure. A three-span reduced scale segmental box girder model was constructed, then tested in three stages. Flexural behavior was examined first, then shear tests were conducted on the damaged structure. Test results and observations are presented.

The bridge that links Re Island and the mainland was completed in April, 1988. It crosses a 3000 m wide sea channel that separates the island from the town of La Rochelle, on the west coast of France. The deck of the bridge is a concrete box girder built by the balanced cantilever method with precast segments. The prestressing tendons are partly inside the concrete and partly external.

Over 600 bridges composed of adjacent prestressed concrete box beams were built in the early 1950s in Pennsylvania. The box beams were placed side by side and had an asphalt wearing course on top. Span lengths ranged form 30 to 60 ft. Their design was very conservative by today's standards. The concretes used in these bridges have high chloride contents; water leaks down through the joint between box units and the strands often have inadequate cover. Thus, it is not surprising that many of the box beams are deteriorating due to corrosion of their prestressing strands. This project was directed toward developing economical repair schemes for these bridges. The literature survey did not reveal any schemes specifically applicable to adjacent box beams. Two external reinforcement repair schemes were developed and trial installations were made on a bridge near York, Pa. Both schemes included the removal of deteriorated concrete, placement of external reinforcement beneath the beam, and application of shotcrete to the soffit of the beam. In Scheme 1, the external reinforcement consisted of epoxy-coated reinforcing bars. This repair method restored ultimate flexural capacity but did not restore lost prestress. It was the least costly of the two methods. In Scheme 2, post-tensioned, epoxy-coated strand was used. This restored the full ultimate flexural capacity and most of the lost prestress. Difficulties were encountered in installing anchors for the post-tensioned system, but its performance was good. The bridge was tested after repair. The external reinforcements were found to be fully composite with the original beams. The tests also revealed the lateral distribution of wheel loads. In spite of the poor condition of the bridge, the wheel loads were well distributed laterally, leading to a structure that was stronger and stiffer than expected.

A simple methodology for the solution of beams prestressed or partially prestressed with external or unbonded tendons in the linear elastic cracked and uncracked range of behavior is described. It leads to equations allowing the computation of stresses in the concrete section, the tensile reinforcing steel, the compression reinforcing steel, and the prestressing steel. In particular, it is shown that the stress in unbonded tendons is a function of the applied loading, the steel profile, and the ratio of the crack width (or crack band width) to the span. These factors can all be accounted for through the use of a strain reduction coefficient ê for the uncracked range of behavior and a similar coefficient êc for the cracked range of behavior. It is shown that, when the strain reduction coefficients ê and êc are taken equal to unity, the solutions developed here revert to the solutions developed earlier for partially prestressed beams with bonded tendons.