Browsing by Subject "Bridge decks"
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Item Assessing effects of highway bridge deck runoff on near-by recieving waters in coastal margins using remote monitoring techniques(Texas A&M University, 2005-02-17) Nwaneshiudu, OkeMost of the pollution found in highway runoff is both directly and indirectly contributed by vehicles such as cars and trucks. The constituents that contribute the majority of the pollution, such as metals, chemical oxygen demand, oil and grease, are generally deposited on the highways. These can become very harmful and detrimental to human health when they come in contact with our water system. The connecting tie between these harmful highway-made pollution and our water system, which includes our ground waters and surface waters, is rainfall. The main objective of this runoff study was to characterize and assess the quantity and quality of the storm water runoff of a bridge deck that discharged into a receiving water body. The bridge deck and the creek were located in the coastal margin region in the southeast area of Texas on the border of Harris and Galveston counties. Flow-activated water samplers and flow-measuring devices were installed to quantitatively determine the rate of flow of the bridge deck and determine different pollutant loading by sampling the receiving water body (Clear Creek). The collected samples were analyzed for total suspended solids, toxic metals, and other relevant constituents of concerns. The results illustrated that the runoff from the bridge deck exhibited low total suspended solids concentrations (which were highest in the creek). However, other metal constituents like the zinc and cooper concentration were high and above standards. The phosphate concentrations in the creek were the highest and exceeded EPA standards. Several nitrate concentrations were also noticeably above EPA standards.Item Evaluation of the fatigue behavior of bridge decks with precast panels at expansion joints(2007-05) Agnew, Lewis Samuel, 1981-; Wood, Sharon L.In a previous Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) research project (0- 4418), a new construction detail was developed for bridge decks at expansion joints. This new detail used precast, prestressed concrete (PC) panels as stay-in-place formwork for a 4-in. thick topping slab. The new detail forms an 8-in. composite slab that eliminates thickened end slab diaphragms at expansion joints. The primary objective of this project was to evaluate the fatigue behavior of this new detail. Four full-scale specimens were designed and constructed and then subjected to various load histories. First, the specimens were subjected to service-level and designlevel fatigue loads, and then a static overload test after 2 million cycles. After the static overload, the fatigue testing was continued to 5 million cycles, and the specimens were then tested to failure. The research team concluded that the new PC panel for 0° skew bridge decks exhibited satisfactory fatigue response. No delamination was observed at the interface of the PC panel and CIP slab, and the measured response of the specimens did not deteriorate with increasing fatigue cycles.