A system of steel-elastomer sandwich plates for strengthening orthotropic bridge decks

The use of a sandwich plate system (SPS) composed of two steel plates with a solid polymer (polyurethane) core has been introduced as a refurbishment procedure for steel decks of bridges, the so-called orthotropic decks consisting of a deckplate with longitudinal stiffeners and transverse crossbeams. Unfortunately, a great many of existing steel bridges still have structural members that do not comply with the recommendations given in design codes, and therefore damages have developed in them. For a satisfactory refurbishment of the bridges, the SPS technique fulfils all necessary requirements. To this end, both experimental and calculative investigations were carried out at RWTH Aachen to demonstrate the reinforcing and stiffening effect and to prove the suitability of the SPS-overlay technique for general use. The practical applicability of a SPS has been tested successfully in a pilot project for a German motorway bridge under severe traffic.