UHPC Decked I-Beam for Accelerated Bridge Construction

Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) is an excellent material for bridge construction due to its exceptional durability and superior mechanical properties. Several Departments of Transportations (DOTs), including Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT), have limited the use of UHPC in bridge construction to joints and connections between bridge components due to the relatively high materials cost of commercially UHPC products. Recently, NDOT has sponsored a research project to develop a non-proprietary UHPC using local materials to reduce materials cost and ensure its availability to local contractors and precast producers. The project was completed successfully and an economical UHPC mix that satisfied all workability, durability, and strength requirements was developed and tested. The cost of the raw materials for this mix was about $700 per cubic yards which is about 30 percent of the cost of pre-bagged commercial UHPC materials. Therefore, it is economically feasible at this time to expand the use of UHPC to bridge components, such as deck slabs and girders, to have a service life of over 150 years. Some researchers (Voo and Foster 2010) estimate the theoretical service life to be about 340 years. Its use will clearly minimize bridge maintenance costs and traffic disruptions.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $98,251.00
• Sponsor Organizations:

  Nebraska Department of Transportation

  1500 Nebraska 2
  Lincoln, NE  United States  68502
• Project Managers:

  Halsey, Lieska

• Principal Investigators:

  Morcous, George

  Tadros, Maher

• Start Date: 20200701
• Expected Completion Date: 20221130
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Bridge construction; Bridge members; Costs; I beams; Mix design; Ultra high performance concrete
• Geographic Terms: Nebraska
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Construction; Highways; Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01735837
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Nebraska Department of Transportation
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Apr 6 2020 2:14PM