Abstract
An effective method was proposed in this study which can improve the strengthening effect of continuous girder bridges by external tendons. The improvement of the proposed strengthening method in comparison with conventional methods was analyzed by applying equivalent load concept. In order to verify the strengthening effect, the enhancement of load-carrying capacity achieved by external prestressing was investigated through the test of continuous beams that were or were not strengthened by the external prestressing. The continuous beams were fabricated by making the deck slab continuous according to general construction practice of an actual concrete girder bridge. The test results showed that the deflections and strains of the strengthened beam were significantly reduced when comparing with those of the non-strengthened beam for the same level of external loads, and the stiffness of the member increased by strengthening. In particular, it was verified that the proposed method can effectively reduce the tensile stresses of the deck caused by negative moment at the intermediate supports of a continuous bridge.
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