Development of Cost-Effective Accelerated Bridge Construction in Skew and Right Alignments

使用预制构件和系统来加速新桥的建设和更换老化的桥梁，最近已成为桥梁管理部门非常关注和感兴趣的主题。预制构件和系统可以快速组装，可以减少设计工作量，减少对场地附近环境的影响，并最大限度地减少延误和车道关闭时间以及对旅行公众的不便，节省时间和纳税人的钱。其中一种系统涉及全深度、全宽度、预制混凝土甲板板横向放置在钢或混凝土大梁上，其中提供灌浆袋以容纳焊接到钢梁或嵌入混凝土大梁中的剪切连接器集群。加拿大公路桥梁设计规范对这种斜向和右向装配式桥梁体系的经济设计没有提供足够的指导和规范。文献回顾揭示了一些重要的未解决的分析，设计和性能问题，需要详细的评估。这些问题包括：(1)预制桥面铺装过程中斜交非组合桥梁施工阶段的恒活荷载分配系数；（ii）斜交组合桥梁在极限使用能力和疲劳极限状态下的活载分布系数；（iii）在极限和疲劳极限状态下，与单一螺栓应用相比，螺栓集群的能力，在剪切袋中加入超高性能混凝土（UHPC）；（iv）桥跨内的预制板与板连接，以提高强度和长期耐久性（即漏水）；(v)预制板对板连接，在负弯矩区采用带头端的玻璃纤维聚合物（GFRP）钢筋和UHPC，以增加复合梁在极限和疲劳极限状态下的强度；（vi）对实际桥梁进行后续实地研究，以验证货车荷载分布的有限元计算机模型，并观察实际现场条件下各系统组件的相互作用。本研究的目的是通过开发实验校准，基于计算机的分析模型，能够准确预测由于施工顺序，卡车负载历史和环境条件而产生的响应，从而有助于有效设计此类预制桥梁。拟议的研究计划将在未来5年内促进与安大略省交通部的互动，该计划将提供安大略省建造的全深度、全宽度、桥面面板的桥梁数据，并促进现场测试。从长远来看，这种预制桥梁体系的设计将产生更可靠、更经济的表达和方法，并有可能被纳入加拿大公路桥梁设计规范。这项研究预计将导致更经济的预制桥梁设计过程，为桥梁业主节省潜在的重大成本。现场数据和全面的实验结果将为桥梁设计师提供有意义的反馈，从而导致新一代的最低维护桥梁，详细说明了固有的耐久性。

The use of prefabricated elements and systems in accelerating construction of new bridges and replacement of deteriorated ones has recently been the subject of much attention and interest amongst bridge jurisdictions. Prefabricated elements and systems can be quickly assembled and could reduce design efforts, 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 involve full-depth, full width, precast concrete deck slab placed transversally over steel or concrete girders where grout pockets are provided to accommodate clusters of shear connectors welded to steel girders or embedded in concrete girders. The Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code does not provide enough guidance or specifications for the economical design of such prefabricated bridge system in skew and right alignments. Literature review revealed a number of important unresolved analysis, design and performance issues which require detailed evaluation. These issues include: (i) the dead and live load distribution coefficients for non-composite bridges in skew alignment at construction stage during precast deck placement; (ii) live load distribution coefficients for composite bridges in skew alignment at ultimate serviceability and fatigue limit states; (iii) capacity of stud clusters at ultimate and fatigue limit states as opposed to single stud applications, incorporating ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) in shear puckets; (iv) precast panel-to-panel connection within bridge span for strength and long-term durability (i.e. water leakage); (v) precast panel-to-panel connection, incorporating glass fibre polymer (GFRP) bars with headed ends and UHPC at the negative moment region to add to the strength of the composite girder at ultimate and fatigue limit states; (vi) follow-up field study on actual bridges to verify the finite-element computer modeling for truck load distribution and to observe interaction of the various system components under actual field conditions. The aim of this research is to contribute to the efficient design of such prefabricated bridges by developing experimentally calibrated, computer based, analytical models capable of predicting accurately their response due to sequence of construction, truck load history and environmental conditions. The proposed research program for the next 5 years fosters interaction with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation that will provide data on bridges built in Ontario with full-depth, full-width, deck panels and facilitate field testing. 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. This study is expected to result in a more economical prefabricated bridge design process, with potentially significant cost savings to bridge owners. Field data and full-scale experimental results will provide a meaningful feedback to bridge designers, leading to a new generation of minimal maintenance bridges, detailed for inherent durability.