United States Department of Transportation
i
Flexural Capacity of Fire-Damaged Prestressed Concrete Box Beams
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2007-02-01
[PDF-582.35 KB]
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OCLC Number:973880462
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Abstract:A gasoline tanker truck fire caused significant damage to an adjacent member box-beam bridge in southwestern Connecticut. It was unclear whether the type of damage that these box beams experienced was sufficient to critically impair the structure's ability to serve its intended purpose. Four of the beams were removed from the bridge and were loaded in flexure to failure. These tests indicated that each of the beams retained sufficient flexural capacity to resist a 1,572 kilonewton-meter (kN-m) (1,160 kip-feet (kip-ft)) moment prior to ultimate flexural failure. This value is greater than the rated ultimate flexural capacity of each beam. As such, it seems that these beams had sufficient remaining flexural capacity to serve their intended purpose in the immediate aftermath of the fire. The long-term viability of these beams is more questionable. The visual and petrographic examinations indicated that the damage to the bottom flange concrete was sufficient to allow pathways through the concrete to the depth of the bottom strands. Therefore, it is possible that fire may have acted to allow for the accelerated deterioration of the superstructure and thus decreased the long-term flexural capacity of the bridge.
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