Bridges with Premature Concrete Deterioration: Fatigue Testing of Full-Scale, Prestressed Concrete Box Girders Failing in Shear

This thesis describes part of the work associated with TxDOT Study 1857, “Structural Assessment of In-Service Bridges with Premature Concrete Deterioration.” The theoretical background of premature concrete deterioration, while not the focus of this thesis, is reviewed. The focus of this thesis is to determine the effects of premature concrete deterioration on shear-fatigue strength of pre-cracked, prestressed concrete girders; to predict the service life of precracked girders in shear-critical loading configurations using S-N curves established from data collected during two full-scale fatigue tests; and to determine the possible shear-fatigue failure modes. Also, to determine the overall level of concrete damage, S-N data from the two shear-dominated fatigue tests are related to measured beam stiffness, crack widths, and visual damage indices.