Type of Document	Master's Thesis
Author	Howard, Joseph Neil
Author's Email Address	jnhoward@vt.edu
URN	etd-52597-152950
Title	INVESTIGATION OF THE STRUCTURAL BEHAVIOR OF ASPHALT/WOOD DECK SYSTEMS FOR GIRDER BRIDGES
Degree	Master of Science
Department	Civil Engineering
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Weyers, Richard E. Dolan, James Daniel Committee Chair
Keywords	Timber Bridge Deck deflection Glulam Bridge
Date of Defense	1997-03-01
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract Glue laminated wood deck systems are commonly used for bridge decks on girder bridge systems. These decks are usually covered with a hot-mix asphalt wearing surface in conjunction with a bituminized fabric sheet waterproofing membrane. Often cracks occur in the asphalt at the intersection of two adjacent deck panels which limits the useful life of the wear surface, provides a poor riding surface and potentially allows moisture to flow to wooden bridge components. The purpose of this study was to investigate the structural behavior of asphalt/wood/membrane deck systems. This was accomplished experimentally by determining the deflection of bridge deck panels with respect to each other under simulated truck loading. A classical linear analysis model and a finite element analysis model were developed for the deck panel deflections. These analytical results were compared to the experimental results and a value of approximately 0.05 in for the interpanel differential deflection was determined to be a reasonable, conservative value for the typical configuration considered. This deflection was then used to load various asphalt/membrane/ wood configurations to investigate the effectiveness of the arrangement with regards to resisting hot-mix asphalt cracking. It was found that when subjected to repeated deflections of 0.05 in, the following experimental composite bridge deck performed best in terms of reduced cracking: 1) hot-mix asphalt base layer applied directly onto the glulam deck panel; 2) waterproofing membrane placed on the base layer of asphalt; 3) hot-mix asphalt surface layer placed on the waterproofing membrane.
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