ABSTRACT
Abstract The behaviour of steel-concrete composite bridges is mainly influenced by time dependent effects in the concrete deck slab (creep, shrinkage and cracking). The effects observed in constructed bridges are only partially explained by existing models. For this reason, measurements were carried out on a four span composite bridge with a total length of 219m. The aim of the measurements was to monitor the behaviour of the structure from the moment that the steel beams were erected. The adopted measurement systems enabled a detailed study of the importance of thermal cracking during the hydration of concrete deck slabs. Finite element simulations have been carried out which explain the observed behaviour. A parametric study has allowed the knowledge gained from field tests to be extended to other composite bridges.
