New Technologies in China's First Jointless Integral-abutment Bridge

摘要

For small and medium bridges, the problems related to bridge deck joints can be overcome by the form of integral (or semi-integral) abutment bridge. But when adopting asphalt concrete pavement, the conventional integral bridge still has a joint between the approach slab and the approach pavement, which needs maintenance regularly and will eventually cause some local pavement failures and a bump. In order to solve mis problem, during the design of the first integral abutment bridge in China, Qingyuan Sijiu Bridge, some special treatments at the bridge approaches, such as the specially designed approach slabs and three-layers of geogrids on them, were applied. Therefore there is no expansion joint on the bridge deck and the approach pavement. The successful operation of the bridge in the past three years has proved that the techniques used in this project are effective. Theoretical analysis and experiments are also presented in this paper.