208 CHAPTER - 7 BRIDGES 7.1 TYPES Reinforced concrete is particularly well suited for use in bridges of all kinds because of its durability, rigidity, and economy, as well as the comparative ease with which a pleasing appearance can be achieved FIGURE 7.1 Precast prestressed voided slab bridge. For very short spans, from about 10 to 25 ft, one-way slab bridges are economical. Somewhat longer spans, up to about 50 ft, can be achieved with bridges of this same general type by fofining longitudinal voids with fiberboard tubes, thereby reducing dead load. Figure 7.1 shows a voided slab bridge using precast elements. Asphalt wecring _eCement grout in keywoy FIGURE 7.2 Precast integral-deck bridge units: (a) voided slab; (b) channel slab Lntermediote tronsverse diophragmns209 Typical cross sections are shown in Fig. 7.2. Such spans are often prestressed by pretensioned strands, and may be laterally post-tensioned after the units are placed side by side. Such construction offers low initial cost, as a result of standardized plant production, and is characterized by fast, easy erection and low maintenance. For highway spans, an asphalt-wearing surface is normally applied directly to the top face of the concrete units (Refs. 7.1 and 7.2). FIGURE 7.3 Cast-in-place deck-grider bridge. Cast-in-place concrete girders such as shown in Fig. 7.3 may be used for spans up to about 100 ff, although their use is less common now than before because of the advantages of precasting for this range of spans. For cast-in-place bridges, the monolithic concrete deck spans as a slab transversely and also provides a broad cOmpression flange for the main girders. Such bridges may be single span and simply supported as shown, or continuous over two or more spans. FIGURE 7.4 Continuous bridge using cast-in-place concrete slab composite with welded steel griders,210 Most highway bridges in the United States of medium length, from 60 to about 120 ft, make use either of composite steel-concrete construction or composite pre- stressed concrete construction. A continuous composite structure is shown in Fig. 7.4. The concrete deck is made to act integrally with the steel beams through use of shear connectors welded to the top flange of the beams and embedded in the slab. Although such a bridge is not strictly a reinforced concrete structure, the design will be presented in some detail in this chapter because of its widespread use. Prestressed concrete bridges frequenfly make use of composite action also. Commonly the beams are precast and placed in position by a crane, eliminating the need for obstructing traffic with falsework. The deck slab is then cast in place and locked to the precast units by stirrups that project upward into the slab. Figure 7.5 illustrates construction of this type. FIGURE 7.5 Standard AASHTO bridge girders, precast and pretensioned, composite with cast-in-place slab. Requiremonts for long spans have led to the development of segmentally cast post-tensioned prestressed concrete box-girder bridaes of the tvoe shown in Fig. 7.6 In typical construction, the work proceeds in two directions from each pier, using the balanced cantilever method shown, and is advanced using either cast-in-place or precast conerete units. Each is post-tensioned to the previously completed construction after placement. Very long spans have been achieved in this way, the longest presently (1990) being close to 1000 ft.