Crack-based serviceability assessment of post-tensioned segmental concrete box-girder bridges

Abstract Post-tensioned segmental box-girders produce elegant and robust solutions for long-span concrete bridges. Concrete cracking and excessive long-term deflections would greatly impact the in-service performance of this type of structure. This study presents a crack-based approach for the serviceability assessment of cracked box-girders. It is presumed that the excessive prestress loss is the main cause for extensive cracking and excessive long-term deflections in long-span post-tensioned concrete bridges. The approach consists of crack-based mechanical models that link visual crack data to the structure’s critical conditions. Procedures for the flexural-crack based and the shear-crack based assessments are established and applied in the condition evaluation of two real bridges. The proposed procedure employs visual concrete crack data as input, and it provides quantitative output of the in-service performance of cracked box-girders, such as the effective prestress of longitudinal and vertical prestressing tendons, the effective flexural and shear stiffnesses after cracking, and the development of long-term deflections.

[1]  Thomas T. C. Hsu,et al.  CRACK WIDTH PREDICTION USING COMPATIBILITY-AIDED STRUT-AND-TIE MODEL , 2003 .

[2]  Man-Chung Tang.  The Story of the Koror Bridge , 2014 .

[3]  E. Bentz.  Empirical Modeling of Cracking in Reinforced Concrete , 2019, ACI Structural Journal.

[4]  Bing Li,et al.  Effective shear stiffness of diagonally cracked reinforced concrete beams , 2014 .

[5]  Walter Podolny,et al.  The Cause of Cracking in Post-Tensioned Concrete Box Girder Bridges and Retrofit Procedures , 1985 .

[6]  Qiang Yu,et al.  Excessive Long-Time Deflections of Prestressed Box Girders. I: Record-Span Bridge in Palau and Other Paradigms , 2012 .

[7]  T. Y. Lin,et al.  Load-balancing method for design and analysis of prestressed concrete structures , 1963 .

[8]  Guoliang Wang,et al.  Investigation on Crack of Long-span Prestressed Concrete Box Girder Bridges in Service , 2009 .

[9]  Qiang Yu,et al.  Pervasiveness of Excessive Segmental Bridge Deflections: Wake-Up Call for Creep , 2011 .

[10]  I. Kalkan.  Deflection Prediction for Reinforced Concrete Beams Through Different Effective Moment of Inertia Expressions , 2013 .

[11]  D. E. Branson.  Deformation of concrete structures , 1977 .

[12]  Richard Malm,et al.  Shear cracks in concrete structures subjected to in-plane stresses , 2006 .

[13]  J. Zhu,et al.  Numerical Prediction of Long-Term Deformation for Prestressed Concrete Bridges under Random Heavy Traffic Loads , 2019, Journal of Bridge Engineering.

[14]  Salvatore Salamone,et al.  Crack-Based Shear Strength Assessment of Reinforced Concrete Members Using a Fixed-Crack Continuum Modeling Approach , 2020 .

[15]  Ayman M. Okeil.  Allowable Tensile Stress for Webs of Prestressed Segmental Concrete Bridges , 2006 .

[16]  Håkan Sundquist,et al.  Time-dependent analyses of segmentally constructed balanced cantilever bridges , 2010 .

[17]  Zihai Shi,et al.  Strength degradation analysis of an aging RC girder bridge using FE crack analysis and simple capacity-evaluation equations , 2013 .

[18]  Qiang Yu,et al.  Excessive Long-Time Deflections of Prestressed Box Girders. II: Numerical Analysis and Lessons Learned , 2012 .

[19]  Tom Ingebrigtsen.  Stolma Bridge, Norway , 1999 .

[20]  Olivier Burdet,et al.  Amount of Prestressing Based on Serviceability Requirements , 1999 .

[21]  Robert F. Mast.  ANALYSIS OF CRACKED PRESTRESSED CONCRETE SECTIONS: A PRACTICAL APPROACH , 1998 .

[22]  Kurt H. Gerstle,et al.  Behavior of Concrete Under Biaxial Stresses , 1969 .

[23]  P. G. Debernardi,et al.  Shear deformation in reinforced concrete beams with thin web , 2006 .

[24]  Linas Juknevičius,et al.  Critical depth of normal cracks in reinforced concrete beams of rectangular cross-section , 2013 .

[25]  Xudong Shao,et al.  Prestress Loss of a New Vertical Prestressing Anchorage System on Concrete Box-Girder Webs , 2014 .

[26]  Sharon L. Wood,et al.  Evaluation of Serviceability Requirements for Load Rating Prestressed Concrete Bridges 6. Performing Organization Code , 2007 .

[27]  José I. Restrepo,et al.  Visual Inspection & Capacity Assessment of Earthquake Damaged Reinforced Concrete Bridge Elements , 2008 .

[28]  Qiang Yu,et al.  Relaxation of Prestressing Steel at Varying Strain and Temperature: Viscoplastic Constitutive Relation , 2013 .

[29]  S. Salamone,et al.  Fractal and Multifractal Analysis of Crack Patterns in Prestressed Concrete Girders , 2019, Journal of Bridge Engineering.

[30]  E. Bentz,et al.  Model for Assessment of Cracked Reinforced Concrete Membrane Elements Subjected to Shear and Axial Loads , 2018 .

[31]  Comite Euro-International du Beton,et al.  CEB-FIP Model Code 1990 , 1993 .

[32]  Z. Ma,et al.  Shear Deformations of RC Beams under Service Loads , 2017 .

[33]  A. Hillerborg,et al.  Analysis of crack formation and crack growth in concrete by means of fracture mechanics and finite elements , 1976 .

[34]  Alfred A. Yee,et al.  Record Span Box Girder Bridge Connects Pacific Islands , 1979 .