HIGH DUCTILITY CONCRETE WITH POLYMER FIBERS FOR BRIDGE DECK LINK SLABS

Conventional joints between bridge decks have become a significant durability issue in the past decades. Concrete damage near the joints results in negative impacts on the underlying substructure such as reduced water tightness due to cracking. Elaborate maintenance of the joints is necessary to prevent serious structural deterioration. Hence, economic considerations favour jointless constructions to accomplish long-term durability and improved overall performance. A jointless bridge deck involves a link slab that replaces the conventional joint. This link slab ties two bridge decks positively. Hence, the link slab is subjected to loads. Bending and elongation form cracks in the link slab. Restricting crack development and crack width within the link slab is crucial for the performance. Within the structural repair of highway bridges in northern Italy the existing joints and the adjacent concrete are removed. Concrete link slabs are cast in place instead. The concrete used was designed specifically to meet the requirements for cracking control. This paper describes the function of this innovative concrete that complies with the requirements of bridge deck link slabs. The application of this concrete for the repair of numerous deck links on a highway bridge in northern Italy is described in detail.