Simplifying Bridge Expansion Joint Design and Maintenance

Details

• Creators:
  Caicedo, Juan M. ; Wieger, Glen ; Ziehl, Paul ; Rizos, Dimitris C
• Corporate Creators:
  University of South Carolina. Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering
• Corporate Contributors:
  South Carolina. Dept. of Transportation. Office of Materials and Research ; United States. Federal Highway Administration
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • Expansion joints
  • Joints (Engineering)
  • Structural members
  • Bridge superstructures
  • Bridge members
  • Bridges Expansion joints
  • Bridge superstructure
• Publication/ Report Number:
  FHWA-SC-11-03
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  South Carolina
• Edition:
  Project report; Aug. 2008-Oct. 2011.
• Corporate Publisher:
  University of South Carolina. Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering
• Abstract:
  This report presents a study focused on identifying the most durable expansion joints for the South ; Carolina Department of Transportation. This is performed by proposing a degradation model for the ; expansion joints and updating it based on bridge inspections. ; Open expansion joints and pourable joint seal were found to be the best performing joints based on ; the proposed degradation models. Assembly joints and compression joint seal have an intermediate ; performance and strip seal expansion joints have the lowest performance of the type of expansion ; joints studied. Assembly joints are found to be problematic because of the different moving parts ; composing the joint. A significant number of bridge joint failures are caused because of incorrect ; installation, in particular, joints with complex anchor systems between the bridge deck and ; expansion joint. ; The SCDOT standards were found to be up to date and comparable to other DOT standards in terms ; of the design and installation aspects of bridge joints. A recommendation is made to request a ; warranty for the installation of the when appropriate. Other general best practices during the ; installation of the expansion joint include: i) when possible, install joints when the ambient ; temperature is the average of the range of temperatures in the area. This allows the joint to be ; installed close to the “undeformed” position of the bridge, ii) the support of the joint should be ; installed in good quality, cured concrete, iii) avoid spliced of any pre-manufactured material. If ; splices cannot be avoided, place the splice outside the wheel path.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  SPR 677
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/25118/dot_25118_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.85 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b9fd0eb9a1a59425692741e03354e040aba888c754918637d667d185b5067db416f05b793da13a00d1cad054c7eafdc127337b142eb0a0426086ce2bc9a8c914