SFRC Pavement on the Steel Bridge Deck to Improve its Fatigue Performance

Mamoru Kagata: Manager of Engineering Laboratory*, Kajima Road Co., Ltd.

Takayoshi Kodama: Assistant manager, Engineering Section, Kajima Road Co., Ltd.
Mitsugu Nakamaru: Manager of Planning Office, General Engineering Dept.
Taisei Rotec Corporation
Minoru Ishida: Manager, Yokohama National Road Office,
the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport
* 19-1 Tobitakyu 2-Chome Chofu-shi Tokyo, 182-0036, Japan

1. Introduction
Yokohama Bay Bridge, ordinary national road No. 357, is a long, large-scale bridge of
2,160 m in length. It consists of a three-span cable stayed bridge, a steel truss bridge and
steel box girders. It is of a double deck structure: the upper deck is used as a route of the
Metropolitan Expressway, and the lower deck is used as ordinary national road No. 357,
and called Yokohama Bay Bridge (called YBB below). This report describes the paving
work done on the lower deck or YBB (Photograph 1 and Figure 1).
YBB is part of the Tokyo Bay Shore Road. It is an arterial road connecting the
Honmoku and Daikoku piers, and carries a large volume of container cars and other
heavy vehicles. To alleviate the degree of fatigue of this bridge and prevent its steel
deck plate from being damaged, the conditions of the existing mastic asphalt pavement
were surveyed. As a result, it was found that the rigidity of the deck plate needed to be
increased. Specifically, it was decided that stud dowels be installed at the ends of the
steel deck plate to prevent drying shrinkage and temperature changes in the concrete
from causing a displacement, and that steel fiber reinforced concrete (called SFRC
below) be laid on the existing steel deck plate to integrate SFRC and the deck plate into
a single-piece structure using adhesive material.
This report describes the results of our study, aimed at making a practical method of
preventing fatigue damage of the steel deck plate, using SFRC paving, and at reporting
the conditions of paving work done on YBB and the results of testing.

Figure 1

Photo 1 View of YBB

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Standard cross-sectional
view of YBB

2. Cause of fatigue damage of the deck plate and countermeasures

In steel-deck-plate bridges with a traffic of heavy vehicles, many cases of are reported
of fatigue damage occurring where U-ribs are welded to the deck plate. It is thought that
the primary cause of this is local deformations resulting from insufficient rigidity of the
deck plate (see Figure 2). It is known that fatigue damage can be alleviated by
increasing the rigidity of the deck plate. We conclude that laying an SFRC pavement
instead of the conventional asphalt pavement on the deck plate would increase the
rigidity of the deck plate through the SFRC combination effect and thereby improve its
fatigue resistance.
Deck plate

Tire

Deck plate
Crack
line

Asphalt pavement

U-rib

U-rib
Figure 2 Mechanism of fatigue damage of the
steel deck plate

3. Outline of paving work

Location:
Near the Daikoku and Honmoku piers, Yokohama City,
Kanagawa Prefecture
Work period:
March 2003 to March 31, 2004
Main types of work: Blasting, stud installation, SFRC paving (thickness: 75 mm),
27,400 m2
4. Problems and solutions
The thickness of SFRC was set to 75 mm due to the height of the rolling roof joint and
other restrictions. The main problems encountered and the solutions to them are shown
below:
Moving materials and machinery 40 m
above to and from the sea surface

300-ton crane + working platform (vent)

Work in the middle of winter (resin

hardening, concrete freezing)

Use of the vacuum dehydration method

Starting curing early and triple curing

Pumping concrete using a pump car

Increasing the quality of the SFRC

(decreasing the amount of drying
shrinkage, increasing the surface
hardness, increasing the wear resistance)

Use of a finisher for stiff-consistency

concrete
Use of a leveling machine

Achieving a flat road surface

Sagging of the concrete due to the
vehicles running on the longitudinal and
cross grades and the vibration of the
paving machine
Figure 3 Standard cross section of SFRC on the
steel deck plate
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6,000()
(worked by machinery)

150

Vertical seam

Stud
SFRC
pavement

Epoxy resin

Steel deck plate

t = 12 mm

150

Working direction

Figure 4 Cross section of the

SFRC pavement

200

Figure 5 Stud layout

Filter

Separation drum
Frame

Concrete

Wooden framework

Suction hose

Vacuum
hose

Vacuum work system

Branch pipe

Suction hole
Vacuum mat

3
0
0
@
3
3
2
=
9
9
,6
0
0

300@19=5,700

Vacuum pump

Plastic plate
Cover plate

Filter cloth

Figure 6 Schematic diagram of the

vacuum dehydration method

325.0
282.9

1400
1200
1000

212.9
2

200

800

150

600
480

100

400

50

200

0
0

1040

250

Amount of wear

Amount of dehydration (cc/m )

300

(kgf/cm )

Compressive strength (Schmidt hammer)

350

10

1.2
1.1
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0

1.105

Cross
chain

(test time: 90 minutes)
:90

0.700

0.631

0.187
0.113

Vacuum dehydration time (min)

Side
chain
(test
:90
time:
90minutes)

5(0.5 l/m2)

0.121

10(1.0 l/m2)

Vacuum dehydration time (min)

Figure 6 Surface hardness relative

to vacuum dehydration

Figure 7 Amount of wear relative

to vacuum dehydration

Prior to the SFRC paving work, the effectiveness of the vacuum dehydration method
was evaluated, and it was presumed that vacuum dehydration would increase the surface
hardness of SFRC and decrease the amount of wear and that, as a result, the
requirements for pavement surface performance could be met.
The amount of dehydration was about 500 cc/m2 during the dehydration period of 7.5
minutes.

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5. Details of work execution

Table 1 shows the composition of SFRC.

Table 1 Composition of SFRC

G
Max

W/C

mm
15

%
47.3

S/a

%
60

Target
slump value
cm
8.0

Target air
volume
value
%
5.0

Percentage
of SF
dilution
%
1.5

High-earlystrength
cement
389

Unit amountkg/m3
Fine
Coarse
Swelling
Water aggreaggreagent
gate
gate
30
198
980
673

Admixture

Steel
fiber*
kg

4.2

120

* 0.5*0.5*30mm, with ribs for increased adhesion in accordance with the standard concrete
specifications issued by the Japanese Society of Civil Engineers

The paving work was carried out by first grinding the surface of the deck plate and then
cleaning it by shot blasting. SFRC base concrete was prepared at a factory and
transported to the work site with agitator trucks. It was then pumped up to the deck of
the bridge (H = 40 m). On the deck, it was again loaded onto agitator trucks while fibers
were mixed with it by blowing air. The area was then coated with 1 L/m2 of epoxy resin,
and the base concrete was laid and leveled using a special concrete finisher and a
leveling machine. The initial curing was done by first spraying a coating curing agent
and then vacuum dehydration and the surface was then finished using trowels. The final
curing was done over one week by covering the surface with plastic sheets, heat
insulating mats, flameproof sheets, and nets.
6. Results of the paving work
Table 2 shows the results of adhesive strength tests. The target adhesive strength was
defined as 1N/mm2 for the materials, whose age was 7 days. Skid resistance tests were
conducted 4 months after the paving work was completed. The test results were
BPN=61 and 60 (DF tester) = 0.4 which satisfied the specified requirements for
pavement surfaces. The flatness was about 1.2 mm which satisfied the specified
requirement of 3 m < 2.4 mm.

Table 2 Results of adhesive strength tests

Material
age
7 days
28 days

Adhesive strength (N/mm2)

Range
Average value
From 1.3 or greater 1.4 or greater
to 1.7 or greater
From 1.6 or greater 1.8 or greater
to 1.9 or greater

Standard deviation
(quantity)
0.24
(n = 5)
0.15
(n = 4)

Point of fracture
Fracture in the
SFRC layer
Fracture in the
SFRC layer

The results of loading tests show that after the SFRC pavement was laid, the working
stress decreased by 90% in the general and cross sections on the underside of the deck
plate, by about 80% in areas above the vertical ribs in general sections, and by about
50% at the scholarship and three-weldment join sections of vertical ribs.
7. Closing remarks
It was verified that the SFRC paving method is effective in alleviating the degree of
fatigue damage of the steel deck plate. To evaluate the performance of the SFRC
pavement in the long term, we will continue monitoring the conditions using optical
fiber sensors.

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