Abstract
Precast concrete segmental (PCS) box-girders are widely used in bridge construction, while studies on flexural behaviors of PSC box-girders with dry joints are insufficient. Six large-scale PCS box-girders with dry joints were tested to failure under two-point loading in this study. Strain increments, tendon forces, deflections at mid-span, and cracks were recorded during the tests. Multiple factors were investigated with regards to their influence on flexural performance of girders. It is found that most specimens failed due to the excessive force in tendons, while the specimen with external tendons failed due to concrete compressive crushing. Larger shear span ratio resulted in greater increase in tendon force and concrete strain during loading and, accordingly, the lowest ultimate flexural capacity. Lower concrete strength resulted in larger increase in concrete strain and tendon force during loading and relatively smaller deflection at failure. For the specimen with four segments, a significant increase in tendon force and smaller deflections at failure was observed as compared with specimen 1, though the failure load was similar. Numerical simulation is further conducted, where it is found that the area of prestressed tendon and the number of joints have a significant influence on ultimate flexural bearing capacity and deflection; besides, deflection control standard of PCS girders should be stricter than that of the integral cast girder. The corbel joints, in general, show better ultimate performance than the castle-shaped joints.
Highlights
Precast concrete segmental (PCS) girders have been widely applied in mid-/long-span bridges due to their rapid assembly, excellent quality control, low life-cycle cost, and mitigated environmental disturbance
Extensive studies were conducted on PCS girder bridges concerning the shear strength of epoxy and dry joints with various geometries [1,2,3,4,5]
Numerical evaluation of the shear behavior of a Ferro Casting Ductile (FCD) metal shear key [4] indicated that a combination of high-quality concrete and higher prestressing force would be safer when a FCD shear key is applied in segmental dry joints
Summary
Precast concrete segmental (PCS) girders have been widely applied in mid-/long-span bridges due to their rapid assembly, excellent quality control, low life-cycle cost, and mitigated environmental disturbance. Behavior of PCS girders with internal, external, or hybrid tendons [6,7,8,9,10] and performance of girder under different loading (i.e., pure bending and combined shear and bending) have been investigated, currently, such studies are still limited. More investigations are still needed to reveal the flexural behavior of PCS box-girders with dry joints, such as the influence of concrete strength, the number of shear keys, shear span ratio, odevity of the segment number, and hybrid use of tendons. Tendon forces, deflections at mid-span, and cracks were monitored and recorded during the tests Multiple factors, such as concrete strength, odevity of the segment number and the number of shear keys, shear span ratio, and layout of tendons, were investigated with regards to their influence on the flexural performance of girders. Numerical models are developed and validated based on the test results, and the influences of other parameters not considered in the tests are investigated
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