Long-Term Monitoring of a Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil Integrated Bridge System (GRS-IBS)


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CAIT project no.: CAIT-UTC-NC22

Fiscal Year: 2015/2016

Status: Final

Rutgers-CAIT Author(s): FHWA - RITA, Virginia Center for Transportation Innovation and Research

External Author(s): Jason N. Hastings, M.C.E., P.E.

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

Principal investigator(s): Christpoher L. Meehan, PhD

Performing organization(s): University of Delaware

Managing organization: Rutgers CAIT

In cooperation with: Delaware Department of Transportation
Partner project manager: Jason N. Hastings, MCE, PE

In cooperation with: FHWA
Partner project manager:

Supported by: USDOT

UTC, grant, or agreement no.: DTRT13-G-UTC28

Summary:

The geosynthetic reinforced soil integrated bridge system (GRS-IBS) is an innovative alternative to conventional bridge technology that utilizes closely spaced layers of geosynthetic reinforcement and compacted granular fill material to provide direct bearing support for structural bridge members. Using this technology, over 200 bridges in 44 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia have been built as of early 2017. In 2013, the first GRS-IBS in the state of Delaware was constructed. An overview of the design, construction, and monitoring process that was performed for this GRS-IBS project will be discussed in this report. This report will focus on the data collected over the past year of operation, September 1, 2016 through August 31, 2017. To evaluate the performance of the GRS-IBS structure over this time period, this data is compared with the data collected from the construction, load testing, and initial monitoring period of this structure, May 29, 2013 through August 31, 2016. In general, the instrumentation installed for this project indicated that the structure has performed well over the current monitoring period.