Residual Prestress Forces and Shear Capacity of Salvaged Prestressed Concrete Bridge Girders

Seven prestressed concrete bridge girders that had been in service for 42 years, and represented two span lengths and reinforcement designs, were tested to determine their effective prestress force and ultimate shear capacity. A cracking moment test was used to determine the effective prestress force in the girders. The measured effective prestress force was compared with calculated values according to the AASHTO LRFD prestress loss equations to investigate their adequacy. The AASHTO refined method was shown to provide the most accurate results to within 10% of the measured values. An ultimate shear test was also performed on two of the girders. An external load was applied near the support and increased until the girder failed in shear. The various procedures in the AASHTO LRFD specifications were compared with the measured results. The AASHTO simplified procedure predicted only 51% and 39% of the average measured shear capacity for the short and long span girders, respectively. The strut-and-tie models were found to estimate the shear capacity more accurately. The AASHTO refined method was shown to provide the most accurate results.