Innovative design approach of precast-prestressed girder bridges using ultra high performance concrete

The construction of new bridges and the maintenance and renewal of aging highway bridge network using ultra high performance concrete can lead to the construction of long life bridges that will require minimum maintenance resulting in low life cycle costs. Ultra high performance concrete (UHPC) is a newly developed concrete material that provides very high strength and very low permeability to aggressive agents such as chlorides from de-icing salts or seawater. Ultra high performance concrete could enable major improvements over conventional high performance concrete (HPC) bridges in terms of structural efficiency, durability, and cost-effectiveness over the long term. A simplified design approach of concrete slab on UHPC girders bridge using the Canadian Highway Bridge Design code and the current recommendations for UHPC design is proposed. An illustrative example demonstrates that the use of UHPC in precast-prestressed concrete girders yields a more efficient design of the superstructure where considerable reduction in the number of girders and girder size when compared to conventional HPC girders bridge with the same span length. Hence, UHPC results in a significant reduction in concrete volume and then weight of the superstructure, which in turn leads to significant reduction in the dead load on the substructure, especially for the case of aging bridges, thus improving their performance.