EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH INTO THE APPLICATION OF SRC STRUCTURES TO RAILWAY THROUGH-TRUSS BRIDGE FLOOR SYSTEMS

In the design of railway bridges crossing over roads or rivers, bridge height from the lowest point to railway level is sometimes restricted by the height of the road or the high-water level of the river. In order to satisfy these conditions, the authors propose the application of steel-reinforced-concrete (SRC) slab structures to floor systems of through-truss bridges. Since the behavior of this type of bridge had never been verified, this study conducts pull-load and dry-shrinkage experiments on concrete slab structures. These experiments demonstrates the location of cracks in the slab concrete, their developing patterns, and the axial assignment-force of lower chord members.