Researchers in Texas are exploring the most efficient methods of anchoring steel reinforcements in bridge joints to improve structural performance and to speed construction.
The 42-month project, titled Develop/Refine Design Provisions for Headed and Hooked Reinforcement, is a joint endeavour between the Texas Transportation Institute and the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).
Replicating a construction sequence using a concrete pump truck and structural formwork to cast a straddle bent at full scale. Credit: Texas A&M Engineering
The research will give the state transportation authority TxDOT updated design guidelines for the use of hooked and headed bars in concrete bridge structures.
Researchers led by Dr Kinsey Skillen, assistant professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, are using the Center for Infrastructure Renewal’s high-bay laboratory to carry out full-scale testing of straddle bent bridge beams. Meanwhile, at UTSA’s large-scale testing laboratory, other researchers are investigating load transfer mechanisms in hooked and headed bars.
