Challenges on the shear behavior of existing continuous precast girder bridges

There are a large number of precast girder bridges in the Netherlands that are made continuous utilizing cast in situ layers and cross beams. When controlled by the Eurocode minimum shear reinforcement requirement, the majority of these bridges that were constructed before the 1970s have insufficient amount of transverse reinforcement, which could make them shear critical. Furthermore, when the continuity is created at intermediate support, the prestressing strands in the precast beams are usually located in the compression zone. This may limit the positive effect of the prestress to the shear capacity of members without transverse reinforcement. The aforementioned concern is not considered by the standard shear design approach of Eurocode. Because of its empirical nature, the shear capacity of these bridges cannot be rationally assessed by the code. Currently, an experimental campaign on full-scale 15m long specimens is underway at Delft University of Technology to investigate the existing challenges. In this paper, the effect of the above-mentioned concerns is illustrated using the predictions of Eurocode and the Dutch Guidelines for the Assessment of Existing Bridges (RBK). Moreover, the difficulties and insights gained from the design and execution of the experiments are discussed.