Seven-year Evaluation of Three Instrumented Bridge Decks in Saco, Montana

Résumé du livre

"Since the service life of concrete bridge decks designed by traditional procedures is often shorter than desired, their ability to withstand constant and heavy use in a variety of operating environments is of major concern. In this project, the relative performance of three bridge decks constructed with different concretes and reinforcing steel configurations was studied to help determine which deck offers the best performance over time. The decks investigated consist of a) a deck reinforced following the Montana Department of Transportation's (MDT's) standard practice constructed with conventional concrete, b) a deck reinforced according to AASHTO's empirical design procedure constructed with conventional concrete, and c) a deck reinforced following MDT's standard practice constructed with high performance concrete (HPC). The performance of the three decks was studied by conducting periodic visual distress surveys and corrosion tests and by monitoring data from an array of strain and temperature instrumentation embedded in each of the bridge decks during construction in 2003. The conclusion from an extensive evaluation conducted when the bridges were two years old indicated that the three bridge decks were generally behaving similarly. A follow-on evaluation when the bridges were seven years old revealed that the bridges continue to behave similarly, with the HPC deck possibly offering the best relative performance based on lower cracking levels and lower strain magnitudes. The decks are still relatively young, and more substantial differences in their durability and performance may emerge over time."--Technical report documentation page.