Methodology for Evaluating Behavior of Reinforced Concrete Slabs in Temporary Traffic Bridge Systems over Uncured...

A methodology was developed to evaluate the behavior of reinforced concrete slabs used in temporary traffic bridge systems installed over uncured cement concrete pavement sections using highly scaled-down experimental reinforced concrete slabs. A full-scale reinforced concrete slab was first designed and its behavior, such as strain and deflection, was numerically analyzed. A small-scale reinforced concrete slab was then designed considering a dimensional reduction ratio of 1/6. When using this reduction ratio, there is no actual reduced size steel bar, so the smallest size steel bar available must be used for placement. Therefore, numerical analyses were performed to design the steel bar arrangement of the small-scale slab so that the same behavior as that of the full-scale slab occurred. To conduct experiments, small-scale experimental slabs were fabricated according to the design. Since the size of coarse aggregates must be reduced in concrete used for small-scale slabs, specimens using the concrete mix design for full-scale slabs were also produced and the compressive strengths were compared to confirm that the strengths were the same. Next, a study was conducted on the selection of strain gauges that can be used in small-scale slab experiments, and a method for installing displacement gauges to accurately measure slab deflection was also designed. Based on this series of basic studies, load tests were performed to measure the strains and deflections of small-scale slabs. Comparing the measured behavior of the small-scale slab with the numerical analysis results, it was confirmed that the same behavior was observed. Therefore, the experimental results and numerical analysis results of the small-scale slab were consistent, and the numerical analysis results of the small-scale slab and the full-scale slab were identical, proving that the experimental results of the full-scale slab can be inferred through experiments using the small-scale slab. This study confirmed that if small-scale slabs are designed and manufactured to appropriately reflect the characteristics of full-scale slabs, even though the process is challenging, the behavior of full-scale slabs can be approximately determined through experiments using small-scale slabs.