Structural Behavior of Tendon Coupling Joints in Prestressed Concrete Bridge Girders

Abstract

Segmental construction of prestressed concrete (PSC) girder bridges has, in recent years, been widely used in many countries. In these segmentally built PSC bridges, many construction joints exist, requiring the coupling of tendons to introduce continuous prestress through the superstructure of bridges. The aim of this paper was to closely examine the complex stress distributions around tendon coupling joints in PSC girders. A comprehensive experimental program was set up, and a series of test members were studied to identify the effects of tendon coupling. Results show that longitudinal and transverse stress distributions of PSC girders with tendon couplers are much different from those not having tendon couplers. Approximate amounts of reinforcement are required around coupled joints to avoid serious cracking. This fact is not reflected in current design codes and must be considered for safer and more reliable PSC bridge girder design.