Load Testing Evaluation of Precast Pre-stressed I-girder Concrete Bridge with Deck Panel Failures

P.I.: Dr. Yazdani
Grad. Research Asst.: Ahmed Alateeq

Sponsor: Texas Department of Transportation

A research is underway in the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) to carry out a load testing evaluation of a precast prestressed I-girder concrete bridge with deck panel failures, located in Terrel, TX. It is a research which focuses on understanding the failure behaviour of precast concrete panels (PCPs) in composite concrete bridge decks. The research also plans to identify the potential causes behind the failure of PCPs and conduct studies in Finite Element Analysis (FEA) on the parameters that affect PCPs in bridges and cause them to fail.

The research consists of two phases. The first phase is the instrumentation and load testing of the selected bridge and collection of data for the analysis of the bridge performance. The load testing will involve placing pre weighed trucks of specific load on various positions along the bridge to evaluate the performance of the bridge. The figure shows the tentative instrumentation plan. The data from the bridge site will be collected and a finite element model of the targeted bridge spans will be generated in nonlinear Finite element software ABAQUS. A comparison of the load testing data and modeling results will be carried out.

The second phase is the non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of the targeted bridge. The primary focus of the research is to evaluate the condition and capacity of the bridge by NDE. The NDE will be performed by Ground penetrating Radar (GPR) and Impact Echo (IE). GPR will be used to detect rebar, concrete cover, changes in material properties, voids, and cracks in the deck, while IE system will be used to determine the delamination condition and thickness of concrete structural members when voids, honeycombs, and/or cracks are suspected.