Concrete Cracking in Tension Members and Application to Deck Slabs of Bridges
by A. Muttoni, (Prof., Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, IS-BETON, bât. GC, Station 18, CH-1015 Oausanne, Switzerland. E-mail: aurelio.muttoni@epfl.ch) and M. Fernández Ruiz, (corresponding author), (Postdoctoral Fellow, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, IS-BETON, bât. GC, Station 18, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland E-mail: miguel.fernandezruiz@epfl.ch)
Journal of Bridge Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 5, September/October 2007, pp. 646-653, (doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1084-0702(2007)12:5(646))
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| Document type: |
Journal Paper |
| Abstract: |
Currently, estimations of the crack width in the deck slab of bridges given by codes of practice are based on either theoretical or empirical approaches considering mainly the monotonic loading behavior. However, cracking in reinforced tensile members is highly influenced by the loading history (including both the loading and unloading processes) because of the irreversible nonlinear behavior of bond and of tensile response of concrete, resulting into residual cracks of non-negligible width. This paper investigates the influence of this phenomenon and presents a physical model describing it. An analytical model is developed and its results are compared to various tests with good agreement. Finally, a simple design formula is derived and recommendations for its application to practical cases are proposed. |
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