Concrete Cracking in Tension Members and Application to Deck Slabs of Bridges
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 12, Issue 5
Abstract
Currently, estimations of the crack width in the deck slab of bridges given by codes of practice are based on either theoretical or empirical approaches considering mainly the monotonic loading behavior. However, cracking in reinforced tensile members is highly influenced by the loading history (including both the loading and unloading processes) because of the irreversible nonlinear behavior of bond and of tensile response of concrete, resulting into residual cracks of non-negligible width. This paper investigates the influence of this phenomenon and presents a physical model describing it. An analytical model is developed and its results are compared to various tests with good agreement. Finally, a simple design formula is derived and recommendations for its application to practical cases are proposed.
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Acknowledgments
The work described in this paper was funded by the Road Administration of the Canton du Jura, Switzerland. This work was performed within the framework of a design competition, with the aim to develop simple and scientifically based criteria to quantify the serviceability limit state of prestressed and composite bridges. The writers are appreciative of the support received.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 12 • Issue 5 • September 2007
Pages: 646 - 653
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Sep 30, 2005
Accepted: Apr 24, 2006
Published online: Sep 1, 2007
Published in print: Sep 2007
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