Excessive Creep Deflections: An Awakening

This article presents deflection data from 56 large bridge spans. The plots used in this article show that deflections plotted against time in the logarithmic scale evolve systematically as a straight line. Also, the deflections of 33 of the 56 spans become excessive in less than 40 years, and the deflections of 20 of the 56 spans become excessive in only 25 years. The authors call for an improved creep model to allow for sustainable design of structures of high creep sensitivity.