The Viability of Steel-Concrete Composite Girder Bridges with Continuous Profiled Steel Deck
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Abstract
The continuous permanent metal deck form system provides a quick and efficient method of constructing short-span, simply supported composite steel girder bridges. However, because shear studs can only be welded to the girder through the steel deck at rib locations, the number of shear stud locations is limited to the number of ribs in the shear span while the spacing of the shear studs is restricted to the rib spacing of the steel deck. This results in a condition where various provisions of the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications (2007) cannot be satisfied, including shear stud fatigue spacing requirements and the fully composite section requirements.
The purpose of this research was to investigate whether continuous permanent metal deck form construction method can be used for bridges given the code departures. Using this method, a full scale test specimen was constructed with one half of the specimen using one stud per rib and the other half using two studs per rib and then each half was tested separately. The steel deck used in the specimen was supplied by Wheeling Corrugating. Fatigue testing was conducted to determine the fatigue resistance of the specimen at both levels of interaction, with load ranges calculated using the AASHTO LRFD shear stud fatigue equation. This was followed by static tests to failure to determine the plastic moment capacity at both levels of interaction. Results of the testing were compared to existing design models and modifications specific to this construction method are made. Investigations into whether the profiled steel deck can act as full lateral bracing to the steel girder compression flange during deck placement were also made.
Fatigue testing results showed that very little stiffness was lost over the course of testing at both levels of composite interaction. This leads to the conclusion that the AASHTO shear stud equation used for this design is conservative. Static testing results indicated that the measured values for the plastic moment capacity of the specimen were less than the calculated capacity. This leads to the conclusion that the individual shear stud strengths were overestimated using current design equations. Recommendations for modifications to the existing design equations are provided.