Experimental investigation on behaviour of steel–concrete composite bridge decks with perfobond ribs

Abstract

This paper introduces a test program conducted for steel–concrete composite bridge decks with perfobond rib shear connectors. The composite deck consists of profiled steel sheeting, perfobond ribs, steel reinforcements, and concrete. To provide longitudinal shear resistance between the profiled sheeting and the concrete, perfobond ribs were used. For a prototype steel-box girder bridge, two types of deck profiles with deck-to-girder connections were designed. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed deck system for bridge application, push-out, full-scale flexural, and deck-to-girder connection tests for each deck profile have been conducted. The results of tests have shown that the perfobond ribs can be effectively used for shear connection in the steel–concrete composite decks.