Title: Experimental testing of older
AASHTO Type II bridge girders
with corrosion damage at the ends
Date Published: January - February 2019
Volume: 64
Issue: 1
Page Numbers: 49 -64
Authors: Cameron D. Murray, Brittany N. Cranor, Royce W. Floyd, and Jin-Song Pei
https://doi.org/10.15554/pcij64.1-02
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Abstract
Prestressed concrete bridges designed under previous
versions of the American Association of State Highway
and Transportation Officials’ (AASHTO’s) Standard
Specifications for Highway Bridges have the potential
to be inadequate for shear compared with those designed
under the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications
due to differences in the ways that the demand
side of the shear-strength equation is calculated.
Two approximately 45-year-old AASHTO Type II
bridge girders taken from the Interstate 244 bridge over
the Arkansas River in Tulsa, Okla., were subjected to a
series of nondestructive flexural tests and final destructive
tests in order to assess behavior characteristics of
aged prestressed concrete members. Shear capacity
was predicted based on the original design specifications,
the AASHTO LRFD specifications, and methods
proposed by other researchers. Of particular interest
was the corrosion to the prestressing strands at the
ends of the girders. Measured capacities exceeded the
predicted values based on modified compression field
theory or moment capacity in all cases, but deterioration
near the girder ends was observed to influence
the failure mechanisms. Factored demands were also
exceeded by experimental capacities.