CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES AS RELATED TO BRIDGE DECK ROUGHNESS

TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES USED DURING THE CONSTRUCTION OF BRIDGE DECKS WERE SURVEYED AND RECORDED TO IDENTIFY THOSE FACTORS MOST CLOSELY RELATED TO THEIR ROUGHNESS. DATA FROM ROUGHNESS TESTS PERFORMED AFTER COMPLETION OF THE DECKS WERE RELATED TO THE CONSTRUCTION VARIABLES AS WELL AS TO OTHER DESIGN AND GEOMETRIC FACTORS. THE SCREEDING TECHNIQUE USED DURING CONSTRUCTION PROVED TO BE THE MOST SIGNIFICANT FACTOR RELATED TO THE ROUGHNESS OF THE COMPLETED BRIDGE DECKS. IT WAS FOUND THAT LONGITUDINAL MECHANICAL OSCILLATING TYPE SCREEDING FOLLOWED BY LONGITUDINAL BELTING AND/OR BURLAP DRAG CONSISTENTLY PRODUCED THE SMOOTHEST DECKS ON SIMPLE SPAN TYPE BRIDGES. LONGITUDINAL FLOATING OPERATIONS FOLLOWING TRANSVERSE TYPE SCREEDING REDUCED DECK ROUGHNESS BY AS MUCH AS 25 PERCENT. ISSUANCE IN 1964 OF SPECIAL PROVISIONS FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF BRIDGE DECKS BY THE VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS ENCOURAGED MORE UNIFORM CONSTRUCTION PROCEDURES, REQUIRED MECHANICAL SCREEDING MACHINES, AND STATED A PREFERENCE FOR THE USE OF LONGITUDINAL TYPE SCREEDING. STUDIES SHOW THAT RECENTLY CONSTRUCTED BRIDGES HAVE BETTER RIDING QUALITIES THAN THOSE CONSTRUCTED PRIOR TO 1964. THE CONSIDERABLE VARIATION IN RESULTS OBTAINED, HOWEVER, SUGGESTS THAT A HIGH STANDARD OF WORKMANSHIP AND EQUIPMENT MUST BE MAINTAINED TO OBTAIN OPTIMUM RESULTS. /AUTHOR/

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  • Supplemental Notes:
    • Paper sponsored by Committee on Construction Practices--Structures and presented at the 47th Annual Meeting. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
  • Authors:
    • Hilton, Marvin H
  • Publication Date: 1968

Media Info

  • Media Type: Print
  • Features: Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: pp 35-49
  • Monograph Title: Construction practices and nuclear testing
  • Serial:

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Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00215144
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS, TRB
  • Created Date: Jan 31 1994 12:00AM