Development of Cost-Effective Box Girder Bridge Design and Accelerated Construction in Skew and Straight Alignments

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The use of prefabricated elements and systems in accelerating bridge construction has recently been the subject of much attention and interest amongst bridge jurisdictions. Prefabricated elements and systems can be quickly assembled, reduce the impact on the environment in the vicinity of the site, and minimize the delays and lane closure time and inconvenience to the traveling public, saving time and tax payers' money. One of these systems is the full-depth, full width, precast concrete deck slab placed transversally over box girders where grouted pockets are provided to accommodate clusters of shear connectors welded to steel girders or embedded in concrete girders. The Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code, CHBDC does not provide enough guidance or specifications for the economical design of such prefabricated bridge system made of box section in skew and right alignments. Literature review revealed a number of important unresolved analysis, design and performance issues which require detailed evaluation and form the short term objectives of this research. These issues include: (i) dead and live load distribution coefficients for box girder bridges in skew alignment at construction stage; (ii) live load distribution coefficients for composite box girder bridges in straight and skew alignment at ultimate and fatigue limit states; (iii) capacity of steel stud clusters at ultimate and fatigue limit states as opposed to single stud applications, incorporating ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) as filling material in shear pockets; (iv) capacity of steel channel connectors at ultimate and fatigue limit states and (v) ultimate and fatigue capacities of precast panel-to-panel connection in the tension side over piers for strength and long-term durability, especially with the use of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars as slab main reinforcement at the negative moment region. The long term objectives of this research aim at contributing to the efficient design of such prefabricated box girder bridges by developing experimentally calibrated, computer based, analytical models capable of predicting accurately their response due to load conditions. The research will include numerical modelling using the finite-element method, the Orthotropic Plate Theory and experimental program. This study is expected to result in a more economical prefabricated bridge design process, with potentially significant cost savings to bridge owners. The proposed research program will foster interaction with the industry that will benefit the bridge engineering profession. In the long term, more reliable and economical expressions and methodology for design of such prefabricated bridge system will be generated for possible inclusion in the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code as the applicant did for its forthcoming 2019 edition based on his current NSERC Discovery and Engage Grants and additional funding from the industry.