Static behavior of a steel-ultra high performance concrete continuous composite box girder

Abstract

To improve the crack-resisting behavior of normal-strength concrete (NC) bridge deck and to reduce the deadweight of conventional steel-concrete composite girders, a new steel-ultrahigh performance concrete (UHPC) continuous composite box girder was proposed. Aiming to reveal the static behavior of the proposed structure, including the load-deflection response, the strain distribution, the crack development, the moment redistribution and the failure mode, a comparative experimental study was conducted on two types of the composite girder, namely a steel-UHPC continuous composite girder (SUCG) and a prestressed steel-concrete continuous composite girder (SCCG). The test results indicated that the ultimate loading capacity of the SUCG was 20.4% higher than that of SCCG; the nominal cracking strength of the SUCG was 22.9 MPa, and its corresponding cracking moment was 2.1 times higher than the conventional one; the crack development mode of UHPC slab were significantly different from the SCCG, the cracks appeared in UHPC slab dominated by microcracks with smaller length were numerous and intensive. It is also shown that the SUCG has smaller degree of moment redistribution. Thus, the current study verified the SUCG could be one of effective solutions for long-span continuous composite girder bridges.