Title: Testing of Steel-Free Bridge Decks

Author(s): Dennis D. Sargent, Carlos E. Ventura, Aftab A. Mufti, and Baidar Bakht

Publication: Concrete International

Volume: 21

Issue: 8

Appears on pages(s): 55-61

Keywords: bridge decks; building codes, general; girder bridges; precast concrete; structural design

DOI:

Date: 8/1/1999

Abstract:
The Ontario Highway Bridge Design Code, in its three editions (1979, 1983 and 1992), has incorporated an empirical design method for deck slabs of girder bridges, which takes into account their inherent arching action. Hundreds of deck slabs designed by this empirical method now exist around the world. Researchers at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, and at the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario have successfully enhanced the strength of deck slabs by further exploiting the arching action. With the help of tests on both large- and small-scale laboratory models, they have concluded that a deck slab supported by parallel longitudinal beams does not require any reinforcement, provided that the slab is suitably confined in both the longitudinal and transverse directions of the bridge.