HIGH PERFORMANCE CONCRETE OVERLAY FOR

REHABILITATION AND STRENGTHENING OF

ORTHOTROPIC STEEL BRIDGE DECKS
Peter Buitelaar
Contec ApS, Højbjerg, Denmark
René Braam
Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
Niek Kaptijn and Henk Sliedrecht
Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, Structural Development
Department, Tilburg, The Netherlands

Abstract
A large research project including a pilot project was executed over the last 7 years to
develop a new revolutionary high strength concrete wearing course on orthotropic steel
bridges which also extends the service life of the total structure by solving fatigue
problems in specific deck details. This is a very promising solution since it turns the
deck plate into a much more rigid structure with a higher “plate factor” thanks to the
monolithic composite interaction between the HPC overlay and the steel deck plate. The
HPC overlay with a thickness of 50 mm will already result in a stress reduction with a
factor of 4 – 5 in the deck plate and trough wall and thus extend the service life of the
orthotropic bridge deck with some extra decades. Project initiator was the Civil
Engineering Division of the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water
Management in close co-operation with Contec ApS, inventor of the Ultra Thin Heavy
Reinforced High Performance Concrete Overlay (UTHRHPC overlay), the Delft
University of Technology and TNO Building Materials. Two orthotropic bridges in the
main highway system in The Netherlands are rehabilitated with this solution during the
period 2005 - 2006.

1. Introduction

High Performance Concrete (HPC, fc 100 – 150 MPa) and Ultra High Performance
Concrete (UHPC, fc 150 – >300 MPa) with its extremely densely packed cement
particles and micro silica particles resulting in low- and extreme low water/ binder ratios,

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as originally developed by Hans Henrik Bache in 1978 and known under the acronym
DSP, are very useful in combination with large amounts of reinforcement [1,2,3]. The
incorporation of large amounts of main reinforcement and large amounts of steelfibers
based on the theories and discoveries of Hans Henrik Bache in 1986 (CRC, Compact
Reinforced Composite) are resulting in an extreme ductility, good fatigue resistance and
high bending tensile strength of the hardened HPC or UHPC [4,5,6,7]. These types of
special blended HPC/UHPC are mainly used for wear resistant components in hydraulic
and pneumatic transport systems handling abrasive materials (fly ash, cement, silica
sand, glass, etc.), industrial floors and overlays in the heavy industry and food
processing industry, security industry (vaults, ATM’s) and offshore (re-strengthening of
platforms, offshore windmill foundations) [8,9]. Contec ApS reformulated the original
DSP mortars to make the materials more efficiently applicable for industrial floors and
ultra thin white toppings. Research was especially focused on the workability,
finishability and the reduction of shrinkage (autogenous and chemical). This research
resulted, among other things, in the development of the UTHRHPC overlay in which a
HPC or an UHPC is combined with the CRC technology to be able to place an overlay
on every kind of sub base (different materials, cracked and/or broken, under
dimensioned, polluted, etc.). The UTHRHPC overlay, commercially marketed under the
name Contec Ferroplan® System, is during the last ten years used for several 100.000 m2
industrial floors, industrial pavements and ultra thin white toppings [10,11].

2. Project orthotropic steel bridge decks

After serious damage due to fatigue of the bascule of the Van Brienenoord Bridge in one
of the main highways in The Netherlands and its replacement a special Task Force was
formed within the Civil Engineering Division of the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public
Works and Water Management. The aim was to investigate the cause, to understand and
control the fatigue mechanism for the 80 steel fixed and movable bridges in The
Netherlands and to develop practical solutions for cost effective rehabilitation and
renovation [12,13,14]. Various methods for renovation and a reduction in stress with
each specific method were investigated in cooperation with the Delft University of
Technology and TNO Building and Construction Research. First research was focused
on the re-strengthening of the deck plate since the fatigue cracks which occurred in the
deck plate have the highest priority to be repaired because of their effect on the traffic
security. One of the idea’s was to place a steel fibre reinforced HPC overlay as was done
earlier on a orthotropic bridge deck in Canada. Contec ApS was consulted because of
their specific knowledge of HPC and UHPC overlays in combination with large amounts
of main reinforcement. Different tests and calculations showed that an un-reinforced
HPC overlay will deteriorate very fast due to the high tensile stresses introduced by the
traffic loads. This supported the idea as original proposed by Contec ApS to use an
UTHRHPC overlay.

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3. Research

During the period 1999 – 2005 the properties of the specific HPC and UTHRHPC
overlay were investigated in different institutes like the Delft University of Technology
and TNO Building and Construction Research. Before it is possible to make a design for
a rehabilitation of such an important infrastructural structure like a highway bridge, it is
necessary to know the material properties to be able to check and/or to develop
calculation methods. Furthermore it is important to have information about the durability
of the material and the behavior under traffic loads to be able to predict the total
extension of service life. Besides research on relatively small samples it was also
necessary to perform tests on full-scale structural elements under different loading
conditions. In several sub projects and at different institutes these properties were
investigated and documented [15,16]. FEM calculations and calculations on specific
details were made by the civil engineering department of the Ministry [17]. This was
very important and should be done for each bridge project separately since the
application of the UTHRHPC overlay will change the properties of the orthotropic deck
due to the composite action between the UTHRHPC overlay, the steel deck structure and
the bridge’s main structural system which will result in a relocation of stresses.
Deformations of the UTHRHPC overlay caused by shrinkage are restrained by the steel
bridge structure to which deck plate the concrete overlay is connected by means of an
intermediate epoxy layer with sprinkled in aggregates. This introduces tensile stresses in
the overlay that might cause cracking of the concrete. Whereas reducing the water/binder
ratio results in a reduction of drying shrinkage of normal strength concrete mixtures, the
considerable water-binder ratio reduction as used in very high strength mixtures results
in an increase of another component of shrinkage, the so-called autogenous shrinkage
[18,19]. This shrinkage component is not found for normal strength traditional concretes
since these have such a water-binder ratio, that there is always an overdose of water
present. This overdose evaporates from the concrete when it is allowed to dry, causing
the well-known ‘traditional’ (drying) shrinkage. HPC and UHPC, however, have a
water-binder ratio that low, that there is less water present in the mixture than required to
hydrate all binder material. During the hardening process the internal demand for water
is higher than the amount of water available. This is called ‘internal’ drying and causes
the concrete to shrink (‘autogenous shrinkage’), even when it is sealed to prevent
evaporation. When placing the HRHPC overlay in a traditional way, i.e. with a vibration
screed, only a limited area can be resurfaced within a certain time. This method also has
its limits regarding the required consistency of the HPC, a much more stable HPC mix
can be required since in most of the cases the bridge deck will have a slope and
vibrations can not be avoided since the bridge can not be closed completely for traffic.
After the execution of the pilot project there was interest to investigate other placing
methods. To place the specific HPC in combination with a high percentage of main
reinforcement with a slipform paver, a further reduction of the water binder/ratio and a
higher percentage of “large” aggregates (2-4 mm) was necessary. Thus even with an
“zero slump” HPC a good compaction can be achieved with a slipform paver due to the
combined action of an intense vibration of the HPC by high frequency poke vibrators

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and the pressure of the extrusion pan. The flow behavior of the specific HPC is
completely different than that of a traditional concrete, with vibrating and/or external
pressure the HPC has a very good flow behavior without showing segregation. A test
area (300 m²) was placed with a large slipform paver to be able to test this placing
method on a large scale. The speed of placing, the high compressive strength (70 MPa in
less than 24 hours) and the extreme good compaction were very promising. The theory
of the author was that the higher amount of large aggregates and thus also lower amount
of binder will reduce the autogenous shrinkage despite the very low water/binder ratio. A
very rigid “frame” of very hard aggregates and reinforcement is glued together with a
thin film of binder and silica sand such that shrinkage is hardly possible to occur. This
theory was opposite to the in general accepted theory that less mixing water will result in
more autogenous shrinkage. This theory is in principal correct for HPC and UHPC with
higher binder contents and a low percentage of aggregates. Before this alternative
application method was allowed to be used it was necessary to perform additional
research. Three mixtures of the specific HPC were investigated and compared by the
Delft University of Technology: Standard for placing with vibration screed (figure 1);
special composition for placing by slipform paver (figure 2) and standard for placing
with vibration screed including a so called internal curing compound which is premixed
in the dry binder (figure 3).

Figure 1:
screeding beam mixture

0,45

0,4

0,35

0,3
deformation [10-3]

0,25 autogenous + drying

autogenous - 3 d
autogenous - 7 d
0,2 autogenous

0,15

0,1

0,05

0
0 7 14 21 28 35 42
concrete age [d]

The weight of the sealed prisms was also measured to check whether the sealing
functioned correctly (e.g. no mass loss due to evaporation of water). Figures contains the
results of the deformation measurements. The shrinkage presented is the mean of six
individual measurements (3 prisms, 2 measurements per prism). Shortening of the
specimen is presented as a positive value. The horizontal axis presents the time since the
moment of casting, i.e. the concrete age. When the measurements started all prisms had
an age of 1 day. The lines denoted as ‘autogenous – 3 d’ and ‘autogenous – 7 d’ refer to
originally sealed prisms of which the sealing was removed at an age of 3 and 7 days,
respectively. The prisms that remained sealed are denoted ‘autogenous’, whereas the

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prisms originally not sealed are called ‘autogenous + drying’ since they are subjected to
both drying and autogenous shrinkage for the entire measuring period.

Figure 2:
slipform paver mixture

0,45

0,4

0,35

0,3
deformation [10-3]

0,25 autogenous + drying

autogenous - 3 d
autogenous - 7 d
0,2 autogenous

0,15

0,1

0,05

0
0 7 14 21 28 35 42
concrete age [d]

Figure 3:
screeding beam mixture with internal curing

0,45

0,4

0,35

0,3
deformation [10-3]

0,25 autogenous + drying

autogenous - 3 d
autogenous - 7 d
0,2 autogenous

0,15

0,1

0,05

0
0 7 14 21 28 35 42
concrete age [d]

The results presented in figure 2 demonstrate, as expected, that the highest shrinkage is
found for the specimens that remained unsealed. The highest values observed for this
combination of autogenous and drying shrinkage is 0.39‰ at an age of 28 d (registration
period of 27 d) for the screeding beam mixture. The mixture with the lowest water-
binder ratio, being the slipform paver mixture, demonstrated the lowest shrinkage,
namely 0.33‰. The results for the screeding beam mixture with the internal curing was
in between these two: 0.36‰. It must be noted that the slipform paver mixture exhibits
the lowest autogenous shrinkage, even though it has the lowest water-binder ratio:
0.19‰ deformation at 28 d of age. Also now, the screeding beam mixture has the highest
shrinkage (0.26‰) and the result for the screeding beam mixture with internal curing is
again in between the both mentioned before (0.22‰). If it is assumed that drying
shrinkage is total shrinkage minus autogenous shrinkage, all three mixtures have an
almost identical drying shrinkage, namely 0.13-0.14‰. Here it should be noted that a

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permanently sealed prism will exhibit a different autogenous shrinkage than a prism that
is also subjected to drying: both have different internal moisture gradients which will
affect internal processes that cause deformations to occur. Figure 2 clearly demonstrates
that the shrinkage accelerates if the sealing is removed. The deformation of an unsealed
prism is, however, an upper bound value that is not reached by the other prisms. The
results from the weight measurements (not shown here) indicated that the sealing
functioned well: continuously sealed prisms didn’t exhibit any mass loss. Research is far
from finished since much properties of the UTHRHPC have to be investigated.

4 Pilot project

All the tests showed that the intended application of a UTHRHPC overlay is a very
promising solution to rehabilitate orthotropic steel bridge decks to elongate the service
life of the total structure. Both durability and strength of the UTHRHPC overlay are
adequate. In the period from the 29th of April until the 4th of May 2003 a pilot project on
the Caland bridge was executed to make it possible to test the logistic aspects on a
relatively small project before other more complex and much larger projects would be
executed. The area concerning the pilot project were two traffic lanes with a total width
of 6,70 meter and a length over 80 meters in one traffic direction. In this period the
whole project had to be executed including re-routing the traffic, removal of the asphalt
wearing course, inspection and repair of the deck plate and the application, hardening,
curing and shot blasting of the UTHRHPC overlay [20,21]. The whole execution of the
pilot project from the first step until re-use (re-opening to traffic) of the new wearing
course took less than 120 hours! Much was learned from the pilot project and this
experience and know-how was very useful for the larger projects executed in 2005 -
2006. Strain measurements on the re-surfaced Caland bridge are showing a stress
reduction with a factor 4 - 5 in the fatigue critical structural details. This equals the
reduction factor as measured on the small test samples tested by the Adhesion Institute
of the Delft University of Technology and found in computer simulations [22].

5 Moerdijk bridge and Hagenstein bridges

In May 2005 the first phase (direction Breda – Rotterdam, 2 times 2 driving lanes each
approx. 1.000 meter long) ) of the rehabilitation of the largest orthotropic bridge, the
Moerdijk bridge (total area to resurface 32.000 m2), in the Netherlands started [23]. The
Moerdijk bridge on the highway A16, is a mayor connection between the ports of
Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Antwerp in Belgium, is believed to have the most
intense traffic spectrum of Western Europe. Rehabilitation was necessary due to the
repeated cycles every 4 – 6 years of repair of cracks in the deck plate caused by fatigue.
These repairs don’t have only enormous financial impact due to the high costs of the
repairs (welding several thousands of meters of cracks, applying a new asphalt wearing
course and partly closure for traffic of two lanes over a long period) but also a high
environmental impact by creating large streams of wasted materials and air pollution
caused by large traffic jams.

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The deck plate of the Moerdijk bridge is uneven and to make the new overlay more
comfortable to use for the traffic it was necessary to place the UTHRHPC overlay in a
thickness between 47 – 100 mm. The very dense reinforcement had to be placed very
accurately to provide an equal cover of 20 – 25 mm of HPC over the rebar’s. In the
locations where the HPC had a layer thickness of over 60 mm extra reinforcement was
placed. Placing was very complicated due to the varying layer thickness and because no
transport was possible over the reinforcement. Two special constructed traverses (1 for
the transport of the HPC and 1 for the spreading of the HPC by use of a small crane
placed on the traverse) were used. The traverses were driving over a rail placed in the
length (100 – 150 meter) of the working area and between the barriers on both sides of
the driving lanes. In repeated cycles 20 elements of 100 meter long (joint to joint) were
prepared (inspection, cracks repaired if necessary and shot blasted) and cast. The HPC
was mixed in a batching plant build up on a location close to the actual job. Application
of the intermediate epoxy layer with sprinkled in aggregates and the UTHRHPC overlay
took place in a large tent to be able to work independent of the weather conditions.

A total area of 4.200 m2 (340 meter long and approx. 12 meter width) on one of the two
Hagenstein bridges on the A27 (direction Breda – Almere) had to be resurfaced with the
UTHRHPC overlay within a strict time schedule of maximum 14 days in July 2005. The
thickness of the UTHRHPC overlay was here 60 mm thus the standard configuration of
3 layers of reinforcement of ø 8 mm was used. This also made it possible to have
transport over the reinforcement with the use of wooden underlayment plates in the
driving route of the mixer trucks. The UTHRHPC overlay was cast in two days and each
casting was over the full width of the bridge. Original idea was to place the UTHRHPC
overlay with a slipform paver but the contract sum for the traditional method with the
vibration screed was, for this relatively small job, lower. Also here the application of the
intermediate epoxy layer with sprinkled in aggregates and the UTHRHPC overlay took
place in a large tent placed over the whole area to be able to work independent of the
weather conditions. As soon as the required strength of minimum 50 MPa was reached
(within 24 hours after casting) the bridge was reopened for traffic again. A special tube
was placed under the barrier to cure the HPC overlay with water during a period of 7
days independently and without disturbing the traffic streams.

6 Conclusions

On the Moerdijk bridge it was not possible for the contractor (with the described method
with the vibration screed) to obtain the flatness of maximum 3 mm over 3 m¹. Also the
skid resistance was lower than expected. The complexity of the job (bridge in use with a
lot of movements) in combination with the relatively new method of rehabilitation made
placing more difficult than was foreseen. A very thin wearing course on top of the RHPC
is maybe required to obtain the required flatness and necessary skid resistance of the
surface. Very fine transverse cracks are, as predicted, present each 0.2 – 0.3 m.

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Maximum crack depth is equal to the thickness of the concrete cover. In a small area of
approximately 30 m2 compaction was insufficient. Because of this some of the
reinforcement at the bottom was not encapsulated in the HPC and extra injecting was
necessary to fill this area completely. More tests performed at the Delft University of
Technology with attention to the applicability, shrinkage and use of internal curing
compounds are showed promising results for placing with slipform pavers on new
rehabilitation projects. In 2005 the UTHRHPC overlay as placed on viaduct Voorst
(A1/E30) in the Netherlands to re-strengthen the existing structure and to upgrade the
capacity from 2 times 2 traffic lanes to 2 times 3 traffic lanes (1 traffic lane in each
direction is a rush-hour lane). The RHPC was here for the first time placed on an actual
job with the use of a slipform paver what resulted in a more efficient placing and a better
quality of the UTHRHPC overlay. Special attention must be spending on the storage of
the aggregates used in the HPC, minimum variations in the humidity will result in a
change of consistency. This can result in problems by placing, especially when the HPC
is placed in relatively thick layers on a bridge in use like on the Moerdijk bridge and
when the HPC is placed with a slipform paver.

Despite several problems, partly related to the lack of experience with this kind of
projects and thin HPC overlays in general by all parties involved, there is a great interest
in continuing the re-strengthening of orthotropic steel bridge decks in the nearly future
with the UTHRHPC overlay. Even when it is necessary to place a thin wearing course on
top of the UTHRHPC overlay to cope with problems like skid resistance and small
surface irregularities, as described as a standard rehabilitation method for orthotropic
steel bridge decks by the German Federal Highway Research Institute [24], it is until
now the only fast method available to reduce the stresses in the fatigue critical structural
details in an orthotropic steel bridge deck with a factor of at least 4 – 5. Other countries
with similar fatigue problems are showing great interest in the rehabilitation method as
developed in an unique cooperation between the civil engineering division of the
Ministry of Transport, a technical university, the supplier of the UTHRHPC overlay and
contractors.

New applications for the UTHRHPC in combination with a “back plate” of various
materials will be developed in the near future to re-strength offshore platforms, supply
vessels and dry docks.

7 References

1. Bache, H.H. Densified cement/ ultra fine particle based materials. The second
International conference on superplasticizers in Concrete. Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada June 10 – 12 1981.

2. Buitelaar, P. Densit high performance concretes for very strong and dense
concrete (in Dutch). Cement 1992 no. 11.

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 3. Buitelaar, P. Ultra High Strength Concrete, Congresso del Concreto 1995,
AVICOPRE, Caracas Venezuela.

4. Bache, H.H. Compact Reinforced Composite. CBL Report no. 39. Cement- and
Concrete lab. Aalborg Portland.

5. Bache, H.H. Compact Reinforced Composite Basic Principles. CBL Report No.
41. Cement- and Concrete lab. Aalborg Portland. May 1987.

6. Kaptijn, N. A new bridge deck for the Kaag bridges. International Symposium
on Ultra High Performance Concrete. Kassel, September 2004.

7. Buitelaar, P. Heavy Reinforced Ultra High Performance Concrete. International

Symposium on Ultra High Performance Concrete. Kassel, September 2004.

8. Bache, H.H. New Concrete – New Technology (in Danish). Beton – Teknik
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9. Buitelaar, P. Ultra High Performance Concrete: Developments and Applications

during 25 years. Plenary session International Symposium on Ultra High
Performance Concrete. Kassel, September 2004.

10. Buitelaar P. Ultra thin white toppings using high strength high performance
concretes (in Dutch). Cement 1999 nr. 7.

11. Buitelaar, P., 2002. Ultra Thin Heavy Reinforced High Performance Concrete
Overlays. 6th International Symposium on Utilization of High Strength / High
Performance Concrete, Leipzig, Germany.

12. Boersma, P.D., de Jong, F.B.P. 2003. Techniques and solutions for
rehabilitation of orthotropic steel bridge decks in the Netherlands. Proceedings
Structural Faults and Repair. United Kingdom 2003.

13. Boersma, P.D., Kaptijn, N. and Nagtegaal, G. Increasing the lifspan of

orthotropic steel bridge decks. (in Dutch). Cement 2004 no. 4

14. De Jong F.B.P.,Boersma P.D. 2003. Lifetime calculations for Orthotropic steel
bridge decks. Proceedings Structural Faults and Repair. United Kingdom 2003.

15. Braam, C.R., Kaptijn, N., Buitelaar, P., 2003. HPC as bridge deck overlay.
Technological-, structural- and durability aspects. (in Dutch). Cement 2003
no.1.

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 16. Braam, C.R. et al. Research Contec Ferroplan System 2002 - 2005. Research
reports Stevinlaboratory, Delft University of Technology.

17. Pover, J., 2002. Concept Internal report Ministry of Transport; Analyses various
solutions for life time extension PSR-project (in Dutch). April 2002.

18. Koenders, E.A.B. Simulation of volume changes in hardening cement-based

materials. Dissertation, Delft University of Technology, 1997.

19. Lokhorst, S.J. Deformational behaviour of concrete influenced by hydration

related changes of the microstructure. Faculty of Civil Engineering and
Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, report 25.5-99-05, 2001

20. Buitelaar, P., Kaptijn, N., Braam, C.R. 2004. Reinforced high performance
concrete overlay system for steel bridges. 5th. CROW workshop Istanbul,
Turkey.

21. Buitelaar, P., Braam, C.R., Kaptijn, N. 2004. Reinforced High Performance
Concrete Overlay System for Rehabilitation and Strengthening of Orthotropic
Steel bridge decks. Proceedings ASCE/ SEI Orthotropic Bridge Conference.
Sacramento, CA. USA 2004.

22. De Jong, F.B.P., Kolstein, M.H. Strengthening a bridge deck with high
concrete. Proceedings ASCE/ SEI. Orthotropic Bridge Conference. Sacramento,
CA. USA 2004.

23. Buitelaar, P., Braam, C.R., Kaptijn, N. 2005. Concrete evidence. Bridge design
& engineering Issue No. 40 Third Quarter 2005. United Kingdom.

24. Sedlacek, G. and Paschen, M. Proceedings Experts meeting: Maintenance of

orthotropic steel bridge decks. German Federal Highway Research Institute
(Bast) 19 October 2005. Bergisch Gladbach, Germany.

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