Issues with Reflective Deck Cracks in Side-by-Side Box Beam Bridges
Side-by-side box-beam bridges are constructed in US, Japan as well as in Europe. There is a recent thrust to use this bridge type because of the ability to rapidly construct them with minimal interruption to traffic. Focus of this article is the box-beam bridges built in Michigan. Current Michigan box-beam bridges utilize full-depth shear keys, a six-inch cast-in-place concrete deck and lateral posttension. Michigan bridges utilize the largest transverse posttension force magnitudes in the US. Yet, reflective deck cracking along the beam joints is continuing to be a common problem and it is identified as the leading cause of the premature deterioration process of the bridge. In order to evaluate several conflicting conclusions present in the literature, shear key condition of a decommissioned bridge was monitored. In addition, a box-beam bridge deck construction was monitored during each construction stage and shear key conditions were documented. Six-inch cast-in-place concrete bridge deck was inspected and reflective longitudinal deck cracking was documented few days after construction but before opening to traffic. Inspection data helped clarify the inconsistencies in literature and to identify the time and location of inception of cracking.
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Corporate Authors:
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC United States 20590National Concrete Bridge Council
Portland Cement Association, 5420 Old Orchard Road
Skokie, IL United States 60077-1083Missouri Department of Transportation
105 West Capitol Avenue
Jefferson City, MO United States 65102American Concrete Institute (ACI)
38800 Country Club Drive
Farmington Hills, MI United States 48331 -
Authors:
- Attanayake, Upul
- Aktan, Haluk
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Conference:
- 2008 Concrete Bridge Conference
- Location: St. Louis MO, United States
- Date: 2008-5-4 to 2008-5-7
- Publication Date: 2008
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: CD-ROM
- Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 18p
- Monograph Title: HPC: Safe, Affordable, and Efficient
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Box beams; Bridge decks; Cast in place concrete; Cracking; Posttensioning; Prestressed concrete; Prestressed concrete bridges; Transverse cracking
- Uncontrolled Terms: Reflective cracking
- Geographic Terms: Michigan
- Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; Highways; I24: Design of Bridges and Retaining Walls;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01105167
- Record Type: Publication
- Files: TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
- Created Date: Jul 25 2008 7:49AM