DEVELOPMENT OF EMPIRICAL EXPRESSIONS FOR THE DESIGN TRANSVERSE MOMENT AND TENSILE FORCE IN BRIDGE CANTILEVER DECK SLABS DUE TO HORIZONTAL RAILING LOADS

摘要

Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code (CHBDC) specifies design transverse moment and tensile force in the deck slab per meter length due to the applied transverse load applied to barrier walls. These transverse moment and tensile forces are derived from linear finite-element analysis for a barrier with deck cantilever length of 1.5 m. However, CHBDC does not consider geometrical variations as can be seen in bridge constructions. Therefore, the current research studies the effects of geometry variations such as deck cantilever length, deck thickness and barrier length on moment and tensile force intensities in deck slab. Finite Element (FE) analysis has been conducted to compare the applicability of the resultant forces at wall-deck anchorage system with the limits prescibed in CHBDC. A set of empirical equations were developed to determined the minimum required factored moment resistant at deck-wall junction as well as the minimum factored tensile force resistant required to design the deck slab. The results were then compared with the five experimentally tested barrier length of 1 m reinforced with GFRP and steel bars. The ultimate load-carrying capacities of the tested barriers were compared with CHBDC limits and the proposed empirical equations. A good agreement was observed between the test results and the proposed equations.