Normal Concrete

The poor durability of concrete bridges throughout the US is an increasingly large concern for highway transportation authorities. With decreasing budget allocations for infrastructure maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement, the need for greater durability is apparent. A main source of this poor durability is leaking mechanical expansion joints between adjacent simple spans of multi-span bridges. These joints typically require a large number of expensive maintenance or replacement projects over the service life of the bridge. Using micromechanically designed ECC (Engineered Cementitious Composite) with a tensile ductility four hundred times that of normal concrete, expansion joints can be replaced by ECC link slabs, forming a jointless multi-span bridge. Utilizing the large tensile strain capacity and inherently tight microcracking properties of ECC, these link slabs maintain the simple span performance of the bridge while accommodating mechanical and environmental (i.e therma...

The poor durability of concrete bridges throughout the US is an increasingly large concern for highway transportation authorities. With decreasing budget allocations for infrastructure maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement, the need for greater durability is apparent. A main source of this poor durability is leaking mechanical expansion joints between adjacent simple spans of multi-span bridges. These joints typically require a large number of expensive maintenance or replacement projects over the service life of the bridge. Using micromechanically designed ECC (Engineered Cementitious Composite) with a tensile ductility four hundred times that of normal concrete, expansion joints can be replaced by ECC link slabs, forming a jointless multi-span bridge. Utilizing the large tensile strain capacity and inherently tight microcracking properties of ECC, these link slabs maintain the simple span performance of the bridge while accommodating mechanical and environmental (i.e therma...

This paper investigates the fire resistance performance of an innovative composite panel system known as the profiled steel sheet dry board (PSSDB) system. Four different floor panel samples with various infill and surface treatment materials have been tested under load-bearing condition. The tests were conducted in accordance with BS476: Part 21. Results of these tests show that the PSSDB system