Development of a Specification for Low-Cracking Bridge Deck Concrete in Virginia

Author(s):  
Harikrishnan Nair ◽  
H. Celik Ozyildirim ◽  
Michael M. Sprinkel

Cracking continues to be the number one concern about bridge deck construction. Rarely is a deck without cracks constructed. Transverse cracking mainly attributable to drying shrinkage is common in bridge decks and has been observed in many bridge decks newly constructed by the Virginia Department of Transportation (DOT). Shrinkage-reducing admixtures (SRAs) in concrete reduce shrinkage and are one of the most effective ways of reducing shrinkage cracking. A low modulus of elasticity and high creep also help minimize cracking. Lightweight concrete (LWC) has a lower modulus of elasticity, higher inelastic strains, a lower coefficient of thermal expansion, a more continuous contact zone between the aggregate and the paste, and more water in the pores of aggregates for continued internal curing than normal weight concrete: all these factors help reduce cracking in LWC. Drying shrinkage can also be counteracted with the use of shrinkage-compensating concrete (SC). When properly restrained by reinforcement, SC can expand an amount equal to or slightly greater than the anticipated drying shrinkage. The research in this paper investigated the effectiveness of SC, LWC, and concrete with SRA in reducing cracks in bridge decks and to develop a low-cracking bridge deck specification for use in future Virginia DOT bridge decks. The study showed that bridges with fewer and narrower cracks could be constructed with SRA, LWC, and SC and that proper construction practices were needed to reduce bridge deck cracking. This study resulted in the Virginia DOT implementing a low-cracking bridge deck specification.

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.G Moravia ◽  
A. G. Gumieri ◽  
W. L. Vasconcelos

Nowadays lightweight concrete is used on a large scale for structural purposes and to reduce the self-weight of structures. Specific grav- ity, compressive strength, strength/weight ratio and modulus of elasticity are important factors in the mechanical behavior of structures. This work studies these properties in lightweight aggregate concrete (LWAC) and normal-weight concrete (NWC), comparing them. Spe- cific gravity was evaluated in the fresh and hardened states. Four mixture proportions were adopted to evaluate compressive strength. For each proposed mixture proportion of the two concretes, cylindrical specimens were molded and tested at ages of 3, 7 and 28 days. The modulus of elasticity of the NWC and LWAC was analyzed by static, dynamic and empirical methods. The results show a larger strength/ weight ratio for LWAC, although this concrete presented lower compressive strength.


2010 ◽  
Vol 168-170 ◽  
pp. 2235-2240
Author(s):  
How Ji Chen ◽  
Wen Po Tsai ◽  
Ming Der Yang

A kind of lightweight aggregate (LWA) has been successfully developed in Taiwan, which was made by expanding under heat fine sediments dredged from the Shihmen Reservoir. In this study the performances of concrete made from the aforementioned LWA were tested and compared with those of the companion normal weight concrete (NC). The test results show that the so produced lightweight concrete (LWAC) exhibited a comparable time-dependent properties (i.e., compressive strength, elastic modulus, drying shrinkage, and creep) as compared with those of the companion NC. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the use of prewetted LWAs and the incorporation of pozzolan materials can effectively control the drying shrinkage of LWAC. The specific creep of the LC mixture was obviously higher than that of the NC mixture at the same curing time.


Author(s):  
Aravind Tankasala ◽  
Anton K. Schindler ◽  
Kyle A. Riding

This paper describes the results of a numerical investigation of incorporating lightweight aggregate (LWA) in mass concrete structures. Numerical simulation was performed with ConcreteWorks software on three rectangular piers for normal weight concrete, internally cured concrete, sand–lightweight concrete, and all–lightweight concrete. Results show that temperature differences greater than 35°F may not necessarily introduce thermal cracking in mass concrete made with LWA. Maximum core temperatures and temperature differences increased with decreasing concrete density; however, the cracking risk of the mass concrete elements decreased as a greater quantity of LWA was used, regardless of element size. This trend occurred because other properties, such as coefficient of thermal expansion, creep, modulus of elasticity, tensile strength, and geometrical conditions, influenced the risk of thermal cracking. Additionally, the identification of the cross-section locations involved in measuring the critical temperature difference in a mass concrete structure are presented. The results of this work can be helpful in identifying critical stress locations in cross sections and assessing the cracking risk for mass concrete structures. A temperature and stress analysis is recommended before mass concrete construction involving LWA is begun.


2012 ◽  
Vol 430-432 ◽  
pp. 2037-2040
Author(s):  
Jian Wei Huang

To avoid the creep rupture of GFRP bar in RC members, not exceeding 20% design tensile strength (ffu)) is recommended as design limit for sustained stress level in GFRP bar in current ACI 440.1R-06 guideline. In this paper, the effects of using light weight concrete (LWC) is studied to investigate the sustained stress level in GFRP bar RC bridge decks by a parametric study. Results show that the sustained stress in GFRP bar in LWC bridge decks is in between 2.8-5.7% of ffu, while it is about 3.44-7.52% for normal weight concrete (NWC) deck.


2018 ◽  
Vol 195 ◽  
pp. 01021
Author(s):  
Fedya Diajeng Aryani ◽  
Tavio ◽  
I Gusti Putu Raka ◽  
Puryanto

Lightweight concrete is one of the options used in construction in lieu of the traditional normal-weight concrete. Due to its lightweight, it provides lighter structural members and thus, it reduces the total weight of the structures. The reduction in weight resulting in the reduction of the seismic forces since its density is less than 1840 kg/m3. Among all of the concrete constituents, coarse aggregate takes the highest portion of the concrete composition. To produce the lightweight characteristics, it requires innovation on the coarse aggregate to come up with low density of concrete. One possible way is to introduce the use of the artificial lightweight aggregate (ALWA). This study proposes the use of polystyrene as the main ingredient to form the ALWA. The ALWA concrete in the study also used two types of Portland cements, i.e. OPC and PPC. The ALWA introduced in the concrete comprises various percentages, namely 0%, 15%, 50%, and 100% replacement to the coarse aggregate by volume. From the results of the study, it can be found that the compressive strength and the modulus of elasticity of concrete decreased with the increase of the percentage of the ALWA used to replace the natural coarse aggregate.


2022 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-166
Author(s):  
Ali I. Salahaldin ◽  
Muyasser M. Jomaa’h ◽  
Nazar A. Oukaili ◽  
Diyaree J. Ghaidan

This research presents an experimental investigation of the rehabilitation efficiency of the damaged hybrid reinforced concrete beams with openings in the shear region. The study investigates the difference in retrofitting ability of hybrid beams compared to traditional beams and the effect of two openings compared with one opening equalized to two holes in the area. Five RC beams classified into two groups, A and B, were primarily tested to full-failure under two-point loads. The first group (A) contained beams with normal weight concrete. The second group (hybrid) included beams with lightweight concrete for web and bottom flange, whereas the top flange was made from normal concrete. Two types of openings were considered in this study, rectangular, with dimensions of 100×200 mm, and two square openings with a side dimension of 100 mm. A full wrapping configuration system for the shear region (failure zone) was adopted in this research. Based on the test results, the repaired beams managed to recover their load carrying capacity, stiffness, and structural performance in different degrees. The normal concrete beam regains its total capacity for all types of openings, while the hybrid beams gain 84% of their strength. The strength of hybrid concrete members compared with normal concrete is 81 and 88% for beams of one opening and two openings, respectively. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-01-012 Full Text: PDF


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mehdi Maghfouri ◽  
Payam Shafigh ◽  
Muhammad Aslam

Oil palm shell (OPS) is a biosolid waste in palm oil industry in the tropical countries which could be used as aggregate in concrete mixture. Since 1984, OPS has been experimented as natural lightweight aggregate in research studies to produce lightweight concrete (LWC). Medium and high-strength LWCs using OPS as coarse aggregate were successfully produced. However, higher drying shrinkage and lower mechanical properties for concretes containing higher volume of OPS are reported in previous studies. Therefore, OPS is not fit to be used as full coarse aggregate in concrete mixture and therefore, there should be an optimum OPS content in concrete. In this study, in a normal-weight concrete, normal coarse aggregate was replaced with OPS from zero to 100% with an interval of 20%. Tests such as slump, density, compressive strength in different curing conditions, splitting tensile strength, initial and final water absorptions, and drying shrinkage of cured and uncured specimens were conducted to find out optimum OPS content in concrete. From the test results, it could be summarized that OPS content should not exceed 60% of total volume of coarse aggregate.


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