Ultimate moment and ductility of prestressed Bridge girders

The implementation of self-consolidating concrete, SCC for Prestressed concrete girders were investigated. The study examined the material in a plastic and hardened state. The goals of the research were to assess the performance of high-strength self-consolidating concrete, HSSCC use in prestressed concrete bridge members. Thesegoals were achieved through a series of material tests, T-beams construction, and through ultimate load testing. Based on theoretical and experimental data obtained from this investigation, it is concluded that, the performance of the prestressed SCC constructed T-beams, under ultimate moment is comparable to that of the conventionalprestressed concrete girders, especially the ductility, mode of failure, and ultimate load. The experimental ultimate moment values are close to the theoretical ACI-۰۸ method and they are conservative (about ۲۲%) while compare with the simple method suggested by British Standard. In other words, Presstressed T-beams with HSSCC are safe for this reason. The material test results (prestressed strands and HSSCC) indicate that they should perform well when used in full scale beams, as no sign of horizontal cracks in the concrete-steel bond region (in the tension zone in the vicinity of the tension steels) were observed. In other words, the bond between the steel and the surrounding concrete for SCC was excellent. Also, the failure of a concrete cover along the tensile reinforcement wasn’t observed.