Title: Effect of thermal load on the behavior of an adjacent precast, prestressed concrete box-beam bridge that contains ultra-high-performance concrete shear keys with transverse dowels
Date Published: May - June 2018
Volume: 63
Issue: 3
Page Numbers: 51 - 64
Authors: Ali A. Semendary, Kenneth K. Walsh, Eric P. Steinberg, and Issam Khoury
https://doi.org/10.15554/pcij63.3-03

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Abstract

Adjacent precast, prestressed concrete box-beam bridges have been in service and have performed well for many years. However, reflective cracks in the overlays or in the composite deck due to longitudinal cracks in the shear keys have become a critical issue. These cracks were believed to develop due to thermal load and propagate due to live load or through a combination of the two. Little research has been done to study the early-age behavior of these bridges due to thermal loading, and none has been conducted to investigate the behavior of these bridges in the long term. The behavior of the first adjacent box-beam bridge in the United States containing ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) shear keys with transverse dowels was investigated under thermal load. Unfortunately, little to no research has been done to investigate the long-term behavior of field-cast UHPC connections. In this paper, the long-term performance of a bridge with reinforced UHPC shear keys was investigated for different periods during the first year after its construction. The results due to thermal loads were compared with the results from static truck loads. No cracks were expected in the shear keys from the field data. Furthermore, the reinforced UHPC shear keys had enough strength to resist thermal loads, which had the greatest effect on the performance.

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