Possibility to Improve Strength and Structural Stability of Bridge Deck Slabs by Using Ultra High Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete

Abstract

Parts of the bridges in Sweden and other countries have shown to have a too low resistance with respect to deterioration. This leads to costly repair interventions that disturbs the traffic and results in high Life Cycle Costs (LCC) for the bridges. This investigation primarily focuses on the mechanical behavior, durability and rheological properties and application of UHPFRC to develop more robust bridge deck slabs. UHPFRC shows better performance at post-cracking due to the strain hardening behavior with distributed micro-cracks, enhancing the service life of bridge deck slabs. The main idea is to use Ultra-High Performance Fiber Reinforced Concrete (UHPFRC) to " harden " those zones of the structure that are exposed to severe environment and high mechanical loading. This conceptual idea combines efficiently protection and resistance properties of UHPFRC and significantly improves the structural performance of the rehabilitated concrete structure in terms of durability and life-cycle costs. The concept is validated by means of four applications demonstrating that the technology of UHPFRC is mature for cast in-situ and prefabrication using standard equipment for concrete manufacturing. Moreover an inventory of two bridges in Sweden has been used as case study to investigate the possibility of use of UHPFRC for rehabilitation.