Analytical Method for Bending Moment of Slab-on-Steel-Girder Bridge

The current specifications for bridge decks requires the same amount of upper and lower reinforcement mats. There have been many empirical activities that the partial elimination of upper reinforcing bars was not caused the structural integrity of a deck. A simplified method is derived based on thin plate theory for three and four-girder-span bridge decks. A simplified method for bridge deck considering the effect of girder deflection is proposed based on a closed-form solution that shows good agreement with the results of finite element models. In this research, a new design approach for deck slabs is proposed based on the simplified method. The negative bending moments in a deck can be evaluated with the simplified method based on the position of a wheel load, the aspect ratio and relative stiffness and the span length. This new approach can lead to a significant reduction of the quantity of the top reinforcing steel bars in a deck. Reducing the quantify of the top reinforcement not only reduces the construction costs for bridge decks, but also reduces the corrosion of reinforcement to a minimum.