Test on the Mechanical behavior of the orthotropic composite bridge deck with U-shape stiffenerPerformance of the orthotropic composite bridge deck with U-shape stiffener
In order to check the performance of the new type of composite bridge deck proposed in this paper under the wheel load and test its performance in the second system of the bridge deck, and also to compare it with the performance of the common bridge deck, 3 different types of bridge deck are designed and fabricated. One is concrete bridge deck, another is orthotropic steel bridge deck, and the third is composite bridge deck with concrete slab and orthotropic steel plate with U-shape stiffener. Static load test is conducted on these specimens to investigate the cracking behavior of concrete in the negative moment zone and measure the deformation and the strains in different locations on the decks. The result proves that the local stress level of the composite bridge deck acted by the vehicle load is lower than that of the orthotropic steel bridge deck. The composite bridge deck has a high fatigue strength and wheel-load resisting strength. The bearing capacity of orthotropic composite deck in the second system of the bridge deck is 1.42 times and 0.97 times that of the concrete deck and orthotropic deck respectively. The bearing capacity of composite is almost equal to that of orthotropic steel bridge deck with half the amount of steel.