Investigation of the Structural Behavior of Asphalt/Wood Deck Systems for Girder Bridges

Glue laminated wood deck systems are commonly used for bridge decks on girder bridge systems. These decks are usually covered with a hot-mix asphalt wearing surface in conjunction with a bituminized fabric sheet waterproofing membrane. Often cracks occur in the asphalt at the intersection of two adjacent deck panels which limits the useful life of the wear surface, provides a poor riding surface and potentially allows moisture to flow to wooden bridge components. The purpose of this study was to investigate the structural behavior of asphalt/wood/membrane deck systems. This was accomplished experimentally by determining the deflection of bridge deck panels with respect to each other under simulated truck loading. A classical linear analysis model and a finite element analysis model were developed for the deck panel deflections. These analytical results were compared to the experimental results and a value of approximately 0.05 in for the interpanel differential deflection was determined to be a reasonable, conservative value for the typical configuration considered. This deflection was then used to load various asphalt/membrane/ wood configurations to investigate the effectiveness of the arrangement with regards to resisting hot-mix asphalt cracking. It was found that when subjected to repeated deflections of 0.05 in, the following experimental composite bridge deck performed best in terms of reduced cracking: 1) hot-mix asphalt base layer applied directly onto the glulam deck panel; 2) waterproofing membrane placed on the base layer of asphalt; 3) hot-mix asphalt surface layer placed on the waterproofing membrane.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Civil Engineering

Department dc:contributor.department

Civil Engineering

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1997

Author dc:creator

• Howard, Joseph Neil

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Dolan, James Daniel

Committee member dc:contributor.committeemember

• Weyers, Richard E.

• Timber Bridge
• Deck deflection
• Glulam Bridge

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-52597-152950

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/36791