Flexural behavior of corrugated steel-UHPC composite bridge decks

This paper investigates flexural behavior of composite bridge decks composed of corrugated steel deck and ultrahigh-performance concrete (UHPC) slab connected via modified clothoid-shaped (MCL-shaped) dowels. Six composite bridge deck specimens were fabricated and tested under different shear span lengths. A finite element model was established and validated against the experimental results, and used for parametric studies to evaluate the effects of the depth of corrugated steel deck, thickness of UHPC slab, and shear span length on the flexural behavior. The results indicated that the MCL-shaped dowels provided adequate longitudinal and transverse shear strengths. The composite bridge decks demonstrated flexural failure mode regardless of shear span length, and showed sufficient ductility. The depth of corrugated steel deck showed the highest impact, followed by the thickness of UHPC slab. Finally, a theoretical model was developed to predict the load-bearing capacity of the composite bridge deck. The maximum discrepancy of the theoretical results was -5.9% by validating against the experimental and numerical results within the investigated ranges of parameters.

Automated summary

This study established a finite element model to investigate the flexural behavior of composite bridge decks, which was validated against experimental results. The results showed that the MCL-shaped dowels provided sufficient shear strength, and the composite bridge decks exhibited flexural failure mode with adequate ductility.