Design Recommendations for Externally Restrained Highway Bridge Decks

A severe maintenance penalty exists for composite multibeam highway bridges in areas where the use of deicing chemicals is prevalent. This maintenance concern is largely due to the corrosion of embedded steel reinforcing bars and the attendant concrete degradation in the deck slab. Transverse steel straps, placed below the concrete slab, eliminate the deleterious effects of corrosion on the concrete. Further, the straps can be designed to provide the restraint necessary to promote the development of internal arching in the concrete slab in response to a concentrated load. A design procedure is presented for an externally restrained highway bridge deck. The method has been developed, based on the Canadian Limit States design philosophy, considering both the strength and serviceability requirements. It is demonstrated that the ultimate strength requirements dictate the external restraint requirements, and a numerical example of the design procedure is given.