Case Study » Montana: Bridge Deck Perfomance
Project Summary
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Application Description:
Long-term bridge deck performance and live load testing of experimental bridge deck sites
Location:
Saco, Montana, USA
Products Used:
NL100
CR5000
AM16/32B
CR10X
RF400
AM16/32A
Contributors:
Western Transportation Institute: Peter Smolenski, Jeff Johnson, Eli Cuelho, Jerry Stephens
Contracting Agencies:
Montana Department of Transportation (MDT), Western Transportation Institute
Measured Parameters:
CR5000 Deck Performance: strain (bonded foil, vibrating wire) temperature (thermistors) CR10X weather: air temperature, wind speed, wind direction, barometric pressure, relative humidity)
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Near the small town of Saco, Montana three bridges were constructed less than one mile apart along the same highway corridor, Montana State Route 243. Because of their proximity to each other, each bridge experiences essentially identical demands from weather, traffic, and winter maintenance. To assess bridge deck performance, each of the bridges were instrumented then each bridge was fitted with a different type of reinforced concrete deck.
The instrumentation is primarily concentrated in a single driving lane of one 15 m span on each of the three bridges. Strain gages were placed in each bridge deck prior to casting the concrete. Three different strain gage technologies were used in each bridge: 35 Vishay foil strain gages bonded to reinforcing steel, 7 Vishay embedment-type strain gages suspended in concrete and 16 Geokon vibrating wire strain gages suspended in concrete.
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