Investigation of Thermal and Live Load Stresses in Denny Creek Viaduct

摘要

The span by span, stage constructed, prestressed concrete box girder bridge, known as the Denny Creek Viaduct, was instrumented during construction with Carlson gages. This report describes information on long term creep and shrinkage strains, and on live load and thermal strains collected using those gages in a two-year period starting approximately two years after completion of the bridge. Relevant literature on creep and shrinkage deformation predictions, live load stress predictions, and thermal load predictions for stage constructed bridges is reviewed. The predictions of accepted state-of-the-art procedures are compared with the strains and temperatures recorded by the Carlson gages. Significant temperature gradient strains, caused by diurnal temperature changes, are reported.