Design philosophy and requirements of granular wear surface thickness for bridges subjected to extreme truck load

Abstract

With the increasing demand to build bridge systems to transport extremely heavy trucks in the mining industry, advancements in the current bridge design provisions are needed to account for the extraordinary weight and configuration of the mining trucks. There are no design provisions specifically developed to determine the granular wear surface thickness for haul road bridges. This research study proposed a design philosophy for bridge gravel wear surface design and developed a set of provisions for possible inclusion in international bridge and pavement codes. Three design requirements were developed, among which are two compulsory requirements and one optional requirement. The two compulsory design requirements include: Maintain gravel cohesion, and prevent concrete deck cracking during the passage of the design vehicle. The optional design requirement is: Minimize concrete deck cracking during the rare event of truck braking. Design recommendations and design-aids pertaining to each design requirement...