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The Role Of Shrinkage Strains Causing Early-Age Cracking In Cast-In-Place Concrete Bridge Decks, Tayyebeh Mohammadi, Baolin Wan, Christopher M. Foley

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Early-age cracking in cast-in-place reinforced concrete bridge decks is occurring more frequently now than three decades ago and principle factors that lead to early-age deck cracking are not fully understood. A finite element (FE) simulation methodology for assessing the role of shrinkage-induced strains in generating early-age bridge deck cracking is described. The simulations conducted indicate that drying shrinkage appears to be capable of causing transverse (and possibly longitudinal) bridge deck cracks as early as 9 to II days after bridge deck placement. The drying-shrinkage induced stresses would result in transverse cracking over interior pier supports in a typical bridge superstructure …

Intelligent Painting Process Planner For Robotic Bridge Painting, Yong Bai

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Due to increased government regulations on environment, health, and safety, the cost of on-site bridge painting has quadrupled over the past several years. The construction industry faces a great challenge in how to control the increased costs of bridge painting and meet the regulations at the same time. A possible solution to address this challenge is to develop a robotic bridge painting system. The development of the robotic system can be justified by the potential improvements in safety and productivity. This paper presents the development and testing of an Intelligent Painting Process Planner. The Planner, built based on bridge feature …

Enhancing The Capability Of Rapid Bridge Replacement After Extreme Events, Yong Bai, Seong Hoon Kim, William R. Burkett

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Purpose

The potential threats of extreme events to highway bridges have received increased attention from government agencies, the engineering and construction communities, and the traveling public. These events include terrorist attacks as well as human‐induced and natural hazards such as earthquakes, explosions, fires, floods, and hurricanes. To respond to the potential threats on highway bridges, a research project was conducted to identify rapid bridge replacement processes, techniques, and needs for improvements.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve the research objectives, a detailed case study of previous bridge replacement following an extreme event was conducted. The case study was performed using a three‐step approach. …

Rapid Bridge Replacement: Processes, Techniques, And Needs For Improvements, Yong Bai, William R. Burkett

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 and subsequent potential threats to the United States transportation systems have presented an urgent need to develop emergency response plans in order to quickly react to the possible consequences of an extreme event. Highway bridges, as critical components of the nation’s transportation network, have received increased attention. To respond to the potential threats on highway bridges, a research project was conducted to identify rapid bridge replacement processes, techniques, and needs for improvements. To achieve the research objectives, the research team studied three cases of previous bridge replacements following extreme events. By studying these …

Lessons Learned From An Emergency Bridge Replacement Project, Yong Bai, William R. Burkett, Phillip T. Nash

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, and subsequent potential threats to U.S. transportation systems have presented an urgent need to develop emergency response plans to quickly react to the possible consequences of extreme events. Extreme events include terrorist attack as well as man-made and natural disasters such as explosions, fires, floods, and earthquakes. The objective of this research was to identify strategies and technologies to quickly restore the use of highway bridges, a critical component of the nation’s transportation network, in case they are damaged or destroyed by extreme events. One of the tasks associated with this research was …