Experimental study and numerical analysis on mechanical behavior of T-shape stiffened orthotropic steel-concrete composite bridge decks

A new-type of orthotropic steel-concrete composite bridge deck system was developed, by casting the concrete overlay on the top of the orthotropic steel deck ribbed with T-shape steel members. To study its mechanical behavior (in terms of failure mode, load-deflection relationship, concrete crack initiation and propagation, strength, stiffness and so on), two new-type orthotropic steel-concrete composite bridge decks with different section dimensions were experimentally investigated and two reference decks (reinforced concrete deck and orthotropic steel deck) were also involved in the research for comparison. For the two new-type orthotropic steel-concrete composite decks, the average value of ultimate loads per width is 885.7kN, which is 2.35 and 1.61 times of that of the concrete and steel reference decks with almost the same section height. Experimental results proved that the composite deck can effectively control the crack initiation and propagation in the concrete and postpone the yielding of the steel bars and steel plates, due to the composite action between the concrete overlay and the underlying steel plate. Furthermore, the Finite Element (FE) model of the orthotropic steel-concrete composite deck was developed and validated by test results. A parametric study is conducted regarding to the stiffness of shear studs. With the validated FE model, stress distribution in the underlying steel plate and T-shape stiffeners and development of concrete cracking in the concrete overlay were characterized at different load levels.