Deformations in Composite Prestressed Concrete Bridge Deck Panels

Abstract

Prestressed concrete (PC) panels have been periodically used as permanent formwork in bridge deck construction for over 35 years. To investigate the behavior of this composite slab system at locations adjacent to abutment and pier diaphragms in skewed bridges, five full‐scale composite slab specimens were constructed and tested. Slab performance was evaluated by investigating the initial strand transfer length, monitoring the prestressing strands for slippage at the ends of the PC panels, detecting degradation of the composite behavior between PC panels and a reinforced concrete topping slab within and at the end of a span, and establishing the distribution of the bending strains along the specimen lengths. The experimental results revealed that the initial strand transfer length for bare (uncoated), 9.52‐mm