Experimental studies of prestressed concrete box-girder bridges with corrugated steel webs

This paper presents results of tests on eight scaled prestressed concrete box-girder bridges with corrugated steel webs. All eight specimens were divided into two groups according to the thickness of the top and bottom slabs. In the first group, the primary experimental parameter is the effective prestress, ranging from 0.3 to 0.8 of the yield stress of prestressing strands. In the second group, the location of prestressing strands at both ends of the specimens and the thickness of end diaphragms are the two major parameters. Based on the experimental results of all eight specimens, their cyclic behavior is critically examined, including ductility factor, and failure mode,etc. It was found that the failure mode depended on the thickness of the top and bottom slabs; larger effective prestressing resulted in earlier occurrence of concrete crushing in the bottom slab close to the end diaphragm; and both the thickness of end diaphragms and the location of prestressing strands at both ends of the specimens are insignificant when the specimens failed at the mid-span due to concrete crushing.