Experimental Study of Thermal Actions on a Solid Slab Concrete Deck Bridge and Comparison with Eurocode 1

Abstract

This paper presents extensive temperature measurements obtained during a period of 4 years in an integral solid slab prestressed concrete bridge deck. There is very little experimental information available for this bridge typology. The quality of the measured temperature data are validated by comparing experimentally measured displacements at the ends of the bridge with theoretical displacements determined with the recorded temperature components. The measured temperatures are also compared with common design parameters made considering the specifications for thermal actions proposed by Eurocode 1. The results corroborate that the Eurocode 1 formulations are generally adequate to represent thermal actions on bridges; however, it may need to be complemented to define maximum and minimum temperatures for bridges in locations with daily temperature variations greater than 10°C.