Behavior and Design of Open Steel Grid Decks for Highway Bridges. Volume 1

摘要

Open steel grid decks are commonly used for rehabilitating older bridges because they are light-weight and easy to install. However, many field studies have revealed that these decks are experiencing severe maintenance problems such as fatigue cracking of grid deck components and/or plug welds connecting these components. Based on the theoretical and experimental research of the study, a few pertinent conclusions and recommendations are: composite action between the grid deck and stringer is found to be negligible; deflections and moments from laboratory tests are within 10% and 20%, respectively, of the proposed design equations; fatigue resistance for welded grid decks is close to the one given for Category E of AASHTO Standard Specification for design and construction of grid decks are suggested; and recommendations are made in terms of future research, construction and manufacturing.