Integrated Design Procedure for Epoxy Asphalt Concrete-Based Wearing Surface on Long-Span Orthotropic Steel Deck Bridges

Wearing surfaces are integral parts for long-span orthotropic steel deck bridges and well-designed wearing surfaces will be able to carry the traffic crossing the bridge smoothly and maintain the operation of the bridge. However, until now a systematic procedure has still been necessary for designing such wearing surfaces. In this paper, an integrated procedure is proposed for designing the epoxy asphalt concrete (EAC)-based wearing surfaces. The proposed design procedure includes five major steps: data collection and preparation, epoxy asphalt concrete design, structure design, tolerance determination, and empirical validation. The design details for each step are described accordingly. In a case study, the proposed design procedure is demonstrated through applying this procedure on designing the wearing surface for the Second Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge located in Nanjing City, China. The case study results show that the proposed procedure can be applied to design a feasible wearing surface system on top of the long-span orthotropic steel bridge decks. Further investigations are recommended on extending the proposed procedure to accommodate other surfacing materials, advanced testing approaches, and local regulations, and a set of designing charts based on empirical evidences is also suggested to simplify and systemize further the design procedure.