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STEEL FREE FIBRE REINFORCED CONCRETE BRIDGE DECKS : NEW CONSTRUCTION AND REPLACEMENT

Researchers at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada, and at the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) have successfully enhanced the strength of deck slabs by further exploiting their arching action. With the help of tests on both largeand small-scale laboratory models, they have concluded that a deck slab supported by parallel longitudinal beams does not required any reinforcement, provided that the slab is suitably confined in both the longitudinal and transverse directions. In the longitudinal direction, the deck slab is confined by making it composite with the beams, and by edge beams with suitably high flexural rigidity in the plane of the slab. In the transverse direction, the confinement is provided by ensuring that the supports of the slab, i.e. the top flanges of the girders, are restrained effectively against relative lateral movement; such confinement can be provided, for example, by welding steel straps to the top flanges of the girders. The practice of patenting 'innovative concepts' in the field of structural engineering is not new. In the same tradition, the concepts of cast-in-place and precast steel-free deck slabs are protected through patents. The patent for cast-in-place steel-free deck slabs is already granted in USA, UK and France, and is pending in Canada, Germany and Japan. A global patent for precast arch panels without tensile reinforcement is pending.