Field demonstration of new bridge approach slab designs and performance : [tech summary].

PDFBriefState Project No. 30000116LTRC Project No. 05-1GTBridge designBridge approachesSlabsField testsPerformance testsSettlement (Structures)Flexural strengthBridge foundationsBearing capacityTraffic loadsLouisianaLouisiana Transportation Research CenterAbu-Farsakh, MuradLouisiana Transportation Research CenterUS Transportation CollectionThe Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) has launched a major e\uef\uac\u20ac ort to solvethe bridge bump problem by changing the design of approach slabs where di\uef\uac\u20ac erential settlement is expected.The objective is to \uef\uac? nd a feasible solution that makes the approach slabs strong enough to allow them to lose aportion or all of their contact supports without detrimental de\uef\uac\u201a ection. In this solution, the \uef\uac\u201a exural rigidity (EI)of the approach slabs will be increased by increasing the slab thickness and reinforcement, and therefore someembankment settlement will be allowed without a decrease in ride quality. As a result, the slab and tra\uef\uac\u192 c loadswill be carried by the two ends of the slab (simply supported) rather than being distributed over the length ofthe slab. Accordingly, a footing will be needed to support the concentrated load at the R/S joint. To increase thebearing capacity of embankment soil and to reduce the footing settlement due to concentration load, the soilunderneath the footing needs to be reinforced with geosynthetic reinforcement,such as geogrids