Acceleration of bridge construction with prolonged service life

Abstract

<p>A large number of bridges in the US are close to their lifespan or are really old. These bridges either need a replacement or some kind of rehabilitation. This has led to increase in the bridge construction projects and with a simultaneous increase in traffic demand, there is a need to accelerate the bridge construction and prolong the bridge life while lowering the construction cost.</p> <p>To achieve the objective of faster construction with prolonged life and reduced cost an approach known as the “get in, get out, stay out” was applied in one of the projects in this thesis. For this approach, three innovative concepts were included in the replacement of a bridge in Buchanan County of Iowa. The innovative concepts included Geo-synthetic Reinforced Soil (GRS) for the foundation, using prefabricated beams for superstructure and use of internal curing concrete for the beams. The constructed bridge was then monitored over three years through load testing and visual inspection. The bridge beams were found to be structurally sound over the three years of testing.</p> <p>In addition to the construction of the new bridge with the innovative concepts, it is also important to improve the bridge service life. Bridge deck overlays significantly increase the service life of bridges. Current processes and practices are time-consuming and multiple opportunities may exist to reduce overall construction time by modifying construction requirements and/or materials utilized. This work included three major tasks with literature review, field investigation, and laboratory testing. Through the results and observations of these tasks, several conclusions were made, which could reduce bridge deck overlay construction time.</p>