Rehabilitation criteria for post-tensioned voided-slab bridges

Current rehabilitation practices for aging, post-tensioned, voided-slab bridges typically reduce the geometric properties of the concrete cross section and so permanently increase post-tensioning stresses, change primary and secondary prestress moments, and create new primary and secondary moments because the original concrete restrains shrinkage of the new concrete. These changes affect the resistance of the rehabilitated bridge at limit states specified for new construction in the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code (CHBDC) and may cause other limit states not currently identified in the CHBDC to govern. Rehabilitation schemes should be checked for a serviceability limit state of tensile stresses due to permanent service loads that exceed the cracking strength of the original concrete, which is typically not detailed to control crack widths. Ultimate limit states to check are (i) flexural resistance over interior supports, where the total factored demand can be increased markedly by the rehabilitation; and (ii) creep-initiated failure of concrete due to permanent compressive stresses. The application of these procedures is illustrated through example calculations for a typical continuous bridge.Key words: post-tensioned concrete, serviceability, ultimate limit state, restrained shrinkage, secondary prestress moments, critical stress, cracking.