Analysis of Five-Point Bending Test for Multilayer Surfacing System on Orthotropic Steel Bridges

Abstract

The French five-point bending (5PB) test provides a laboratory-scale test that allows studying the fatigue resistance of surfacing systems on orthotropic steel deck (OSD) bridges. The surfacing structure for OSD bridges in the Netherlands is mostly a multilayer system: top porous asphalt (PA) layer, guss asphalt (GA) layer, steel deck, and two membrane layers. In this paper, an analytical solution for the 5PB test setup is presented first. To understand better the influence of geometrical, mechanical, and structural parameters on the performance of the typical multilayer surfacing system of OSD bridges in the Netherlands, the 5PB test specimens with five structural layers have been investigated. The parametric study was performed at the numerical platform CAPA-3D, which was developed at the Section of Structural Mechanics of the Delft University of Technology. The thicknesses of the top PA layer, middle GA layer, and the steel plate were varied. The influences of the mechanical properties of both top and bottom membrane layers were studied. The sensitivities of those influence factors were evaluated by examination of the maximum tensile stress at the top surface of the PA layers and the strain distributions through the entire thickness of the specimen at two cross sections.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Gurney

Fatigue of Steel Bridge Decks. HMSO Publication Centre, London, 1992.

Mangus

A. R.

, and Sun

Orthotropic Bridge Decks. In Bridge Engineering Handbook ( Chen

, and Duan

, eds.), CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla., 1999.

Medani

T. O.

Design Principles of Surfacings on Orthotropic Steel Bridge Decks. Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands, 2006.

Hameau

, Puch

, and Ajour

A. M.

Revetements de Chaussees sur Platelages Metalliques-2-Comportement a la Fatigue en Flexion Sous Moment Negati. Bulletin de Liaison des Laboratoires des Ponts et Chaussées, Vol. 111, 1981, pp. 29–38.

Scarpas

A Mechanics Based Computational Platform for Pavement Engineering. Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands, 2004.

Pouget

, Sauzéat

, Di Benedetto

, and Olard

Numerical Simulation of the Five-Point Bending Test Designed to Study Bituminous Wearing Courses on Orthotropic Steel Bridge. Materials and Structures, Vol. 43, No. 3, 2010, pp. 319–330.

Houel

, N'Guyen

T. L.

, and Arnaud

Monitoring and Designing of Wearing Courses for Orthotropic Steel Decks Throughout the Five-Point Bending Test. Advanced Testing and Characterisation of Bituminous Materials, Vols. 1 and 2, 2009, pp. 433–442.

Freitas

T. D.

Steel Plate Reinforcement of Orthotropic Bridge Decks. PhD dissertation. Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands, 2012.

Liu

, and Scarpas

Experimental and Numerical Characterization of Membrane Adhesive Bonding Strength on Orthotropic Steel Deck Bridges, Part 1. Project Report. Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands, 2012.

10.

Van den Bosch

M. J.

, Schreurs

P. J. G.

, and Geers

M. G. D.

An Improved Description of the Exponential Xu and Needleman Cohesive Zone Law for Mixed-Mode Decohesion. Engineering Fracture Mechanics, Vol. 73, No. 9, 2006, pp. 1220–1234.