Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

1-1-2024

Abstract

Several details to eliminate bridge expansion joints have been proposed, and employed, in bridge construction. Expansion joints are known to require regular maintenance and are the cause of a host of problems including damage to girder ends and substructure components in the vicinity of the joints. The link slab detail is one of these alternatives that eliminates bridge expansion joints without introducing full bridge girder continuity. It has been gaining wide acceptance in North America and is becoming a standard construction detail. A bridge over the Ouachita River in Louisiana, US, employed the link slab detail to connect prestressed concrete bridge girder spans and was instrumented by six types of sensors, namely embedded sensors (sisterbars, strandmeters, and strain gages) and surface-mounted sensors (gapmeters and titlmeters). A total of 134 sensors were installed in three phases following construction sequence. The monitoring system recorded strains, girder end movements and rotations, and temperatures for the project, which employed different link slab details and segment lengths. The data was collected over a period of more than three years to study longterm effects as well as during a static live load test. Results show that cracking, which is mainly due to thermal effects, affects the performance of the link slab. The monitoring data also shows that jointless segments up to a length of 164.6 m (540 ft) performed well without excessive support movement.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Bridge Maintenance, Safety, Management, Digitalization and Sustainability - Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Bridge Maintenance, Safety and Management, IABMAS 2024

First Page

2544

Last Page

2552

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