Applying Experimental Results to the Shear Assessment Method for Solid Slab Bridges

Applying Experimental Results to the Shear Assessment Method for Solid Slab Bridges

Lantsoght, E.O.L.
Van der Veen, C.
Walraven, J.C.
De Boer, A.

Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Structural Engineering

2013-10-18

The combination of increased live loads and a more conservative shear capacity in the recently implemented Eurocodes, resulted in a large number of existing solid slab bridges in the Netherlands being shear-critical upon assessment. However, an enhancement of the shear capacity can occur in slabs under concentrated wheel loads due to transverse load redistribution. To quantify this effect, a comprehensive series of experiments on slabs and slabs strips under a concentrated load near to the support and under a combination of a concentrated and a line load was carried out. The experiments show the difference in behaviour for slabs, carrying the load in a two-dimensional way, as compared to beams in shear. The results from the laboratory research are used to develop recommendations, that are easily used in combination with the codes. These recommendations are implemented in a spreadsheet-based first-level assessment tool, the Quick Scan method. The assessment with this tool of selected cases of existing solid slab bridges shows that applying the experimental results into the assessment practice leads to an improved selection ability of the Quick Scan method.

slabs
shear
bridge assessment
effective width
experiments

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:ecfc3ea8-021c-4c73-a4f6-477bff2c2960

Concrete Institute of Australia

978-1-877040-73-3

Proceedings of Concrete 2013: "Understanding Concrete", Gold Coast, Australia, 16-18 October 2013

Institutional Repository

conference paper

(c) 2013 The Author(s)