Accelerated Bridge Construction Deck Panel Testing


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CAIT project no.: CAIT-UTC-003

Fiscal Year: 2012/2013

Status: Final

Rutgers-CAIT Author(s): Marvin Halling, Utah State University, Patrick Szary, Ph.D.

External Author(s): Abdul Wakil

Sponsor(s): Utah Department of Transportation, FHWA - RITA

Summary:

Accelerated Bridge Construction techniques have resulted in innovative options that save time and money during the construction of bridges.  One such group of techniques that has generated considerable interest is the usage of individual precast concrete decks in place of cast-in-place bridge decks.  Utilizing precast concrete decks allow for offsite curing, thus eliminating long delays due to formwork and concrete curing time.  These precast concrete decks have inherent joints between the individual panels.  These joints are locations for potential leakage, which can lead to corrosion or inadequate long-term performance.  Post-tensioning the precast deck panels helps to eliminate leakage; however, conventional longitudinal post-tensioning systems require complete deck replacement in the event of a single faulty deck panel.  A proposed post-tensioned, curved strand connection that allows for a single panel replacement will be studied for this research.  The capacity of the proposed curved strand connection will be investigated in order to compare its behavior to other systems that are currently in use.