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Inspecting the Lightweight Precast Concrete Panels in the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Deck of 1982 |
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| Authors: | Benjamin Z Dymond Susan E Bowers Carin L Roberts-Wollmann Thomas E Cousins Andrea J Schokker |
| Affiliation: | 1Research Associate, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 (corresponding author). E-mail: bdymond@vt.edu 2Bridge Engineer, Whitman, Requardt and Associates, LLP, 801 South Caroline St., Baltimore, MD 21231. 3Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061. 4Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061. 5Professor and Head of Civil Engineering, Univ. of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN 55812. |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the results of a detailed inspection of the deck panels of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge installed in 1982. The original cast-in-place concrete deck, constructed in 1962, was replaced with full-depth lightweight precast concrete deck panels that enabled rapid construction with minimal traffic disruption. The inspection of the Woodrow Wilson deck provides valuable information about the performance of the precast concrete panels, joints, and connections after 20 years of very harsh traffic loads and environmental stressors. The deck panels performed well overall, with the only serious problems at expansion and contraction joints. All of these joints exhibited cracking and rusting. The most prevalent type of cracking appeared to be due to restrained shrinkage between the new polymer concrete, the older precast panels, and the rigid steel joints. This location is more vulnerable to cracking and leaking because there is no prestress across the joint. The multilayered corrosion protection methods used for the transverse and longitudinal post-tensioning tendons were very successful. |
| Keywords: | Inspection Lightweight concrete Precast concrete Post-tensioned concrete Bridge decks Panels Bridges highway Virginia Maryland |