Deck Slab Stresses in Integral Abutment Bridges

Abstract

This study deals with the stress distribution in concrete deck slabs on composite steel beams used with integral abutment bridges. The applied loading is composed of one or more side-by-side HS20-44 trucks. The finite-element method is used to analyze two bridge structures with different numbers of beams, beam spacings, and supporting piles. The transverse and longitudinal slab stresses in the deck slab are investigated in the positive and negative bending regions near and away from the integral abutment. The slab stresses in the integral abutment bridges are compared with the corresponding stresses induced in the slab of equivalent jointed bridges. The results indicate that integral abutment bridges distribute the loads in the deck slab more uniformly than their jointed counterparts. The maximum stresses in the transverse direction of the slab can be 25–50% lower in the integral bridges than in their corresponding simply supported ones.