The American Concrete Institute (ACI) has released a paper called Punching Shear in Prestressed Concrete Deck Slabs: Parametric Study.
ACI says most Dutch bridges were constructed around the 20th century and traffic has increased since then. This emphasises the importance of finding out whether they are still safe for use, the institute adds.
Experiments on a 1:2 scale were carried out in the laboratory of the Delft University of Technology to investigate the bearing capacity of transversely prestressed concrete bridge decks subjected to concentrated wheel loads. All the tests showed failure in punching shear at loads much higher than expected from the current codes.
This paper presents the results of the experimental parametric study including the effect of the transverse prestressing level, location of the load and number of loads, size of the loading area (wheel print/loading plate). It also includes the influence of previous damage to the deck slab panel, on the bearing capacity.
The paper was written by Sana Amir, Cor van der Veen, Joost C. Walraven, and Ane de Boer.
