Composite bridges with prefabricated decks (ELEM) : final report

Bridges are of vital importance to the European infrastructure and composite bridges already became a popular solution in many countries and a well established alternative to concrete bridges. To improve the competitiveness of composite bridges, as a consistent next step not only the steel girders, but also the concrete deck needs to be pre-fabricated, which results in a reduction of the number of site operations and a substantial saving in the construction time and a shorter disruption of traffic flow respectively. Although already successfully built in France and Sweden, the critical details (mainly of the slab and its connections) need to be identified, proper solutions need to be found and the applicability, durability and sustainability of this composite bridge type must be proven in order to make the concept cost efficient. The major objectives of the ELEM project are to improve the overall competitiveness of this upcoming composite bridge type. Furthermore matters of safety during construction will be highlighted. The research aims at making bridges with pre-fabricated deck elements competitive not only for short and medium spans but also for multi spans, which will lead to an increase in the use of steel in bridges. The project includes both intensive theoretical and experimental investigations on steel components, concrete slab and connections, including the testing and monitoring of a composite bridge constructed with prefabricated deck elements.