Design and Construction of a Highway Bridge Deck Slab using Ultra-High-Strength Fibre-Reinforced Concrete

Abstract

Ultra-high-strength fibre-reinforced concrete (UFC) deck slabs are made up of UFC, which is a type of ultra-high performance fibre-reinforced cementitious composite (UHPFRC). UFC flat deck slabs have been used to replace existing RC deck slabs on the Moriguchi route (Route 12) of the Hanshin Expressway in Japan. This is the world's first use of UFC deck slabs on a main lane bridge with steel composite girders. As of 2024, UFC deck slabs have been used on four bridges on the Hanshin Expressway, for the purpose of replacing RC deck slabs constructed in the 1970s showing signs of deterioration, and for decks of newly constructed bridges that require lightweight construction. The UFC deck slab is a precast PC deck slab with PC steel wires arranged in two directions and no reinforcing bars (rebars) used in the deck slab itself. Experiments have shown that this deck slab is extremely light and has high performance compared to conventional deck slabs. This paper reports on the structure and design of the UFC flat deck slabs used for the S20 Bridge on the Moriguchi route (Route 12) of the Hanshin Expressway, along with the bridge construction and CO2 emissions from the construction, as the first instance of the use of UFC flat deck slabs for a main lane bridge of an expressway.