Browsing by Subject "prestressed bridge girders"

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    Effect of Temperature on Prestressed Concrete Bridge Girder Strand Stress during Fabrication
    (2015-10) Swenson, Tanner
    The Minnesota Department of Transportation has reported erection cambers of many prestressed concrete bridge girders that were much lower than anticipated. A previous University of Minnesota study (O’Neill and French, MN/RC 2012-16) attributed the discrepancies to inaccurate estimates of the concrete strength and stiffness at release and strand force loss due to temperature during fabrication. The objective of this study was to further investigate the effects of temperature on strand force and camber during precast, prestressed girder fabrication and to make recommendations for the design and fabrication processes to improve the release camber estimation, if necessary. A thermal effects analysis was developed based on four key steps in the girder fabrication process: tensioning, concrete-steel bond, release, and normalization. The study included fabricating six short prestressed concrete segments released at early ages to determine the time/temperature associated with bonding the prestressing strand to the concrete. To investigate the non-recoverable prestress losses during girder fabrication, four sets of girders (MN54 and 82MW) were instrumented with thermocouples, strain gages, and in some cases load cells, that were monitored during the fabrication process to separate the thermal and mechanical strain components. Effects investigated included casting during a cold season, casting during a warm season, casting with the free length of strand covered, and casting with different bed occupancy during any season. A recommended procedure for adjusting strand force during tensioning was proposed to account for non-recoverable strand force changes due to temperature changes between tensioning and bond.
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    Shear Capacity of High-Strength Concrete Prestressed Girders
    (Minnesota Department of Transportation, 1998-05) Cumming, David A.; French, Catherine E.; Shield, Carol K.
    As part of a project at the University of Minnesota to investigate the application of high-strength concrete in prestressed girders, four shear tests were performed on high-strength concrete prestressed girders. Originally constructed in August 1993, the girders, Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) 45M sections were 45 inches deep. Each girder utilized 46 0.6-inch diameter prestressing strands on 2-inch centers. The girders were designed assuming a 28-day compressive strength of 10,500 psi. Later, a 4-foot-wide and 9-inch-thick composite concrete deck was added to each girder using unshored construction techniques. The shear test results were compared with predicted results from ACI 318-95 Simplified Method, ACI 318-95 Detailed Method (AASHTO 1989), Modified ACI 318-95 Procedure, Modified Compression Field Theory (AASHTO LRFD 1994), Modified Truss Theory, Truss Theory, Horizontal Shear Design (AASHTO 1989), and Shear Friction (AASHTO LRFD 1994). The calculated shear capacities were in all cases conservative compared to the actual shear capacity.