National Concrete Pavement Technology Center

Project description

The objective of this study is to explore the feasibility of using Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) in a bridge link slab for the purpose of producing crack-free continuity detail. The new link slab detail will employ an UHPC mix design that is suitable and is producible for Louisiana. The research plan described in this proposal will help achieve the following goals: (1) Developing an UHPC mix suitable for Louisiana bridge applications; (2) Developing an instrumentation plan for monitoring the performance of a new link slab employing the selected UHPC mix; (3) Assisting in the procurement and overview of the installation of the aforementioned monitoring system; (4) Evaluating the performance of a new link detail employing by analyzing and interpreting field data to understand the behavior and performance of the link slab detail. In addition, the ultimate goal of the project is to provide LA-DOTO with useful information on the performance of the new LS detail to assist updating the Louisiana Bridge Design and Evaluation Manual (BDEM).