Analysis of an Instrumented Jointless Bridge

Abstract

Costs of replacement and maintenance of expansion joints are often a large part of the costs associated with bridge maintenance. To replace these expansion joints or eliminate some of them on structures could greatly reduce the costs. Link slab is a new design approach, which could replace the traditional expansion joints. A link slab is the portion of the bridge deck that connects two adjacent simple-span girders. Link slabs also reduce the damage to the substructure of bridges due to water penetration and debris accumulation in the expansion joint.

The objective of this research is to validate the design assumptions associated with designing link slabs, investigate a limit states design procedure and develop a program for the long-term monitoring of an instrumented link slab. This thesis provides details about testing and analysis, which were useful in accomplishing the research objectives. It also provides information about the datalogger software that was used in this project and also details the computer program that was written in Microsoft Excel to aid in the data collection and sorting.