Numerical investigation of the bearing capacity of transversely prestressed concrete deck slabs

The paper investigates the effect of various geometrical and material parameters on the bearing (punching shear) capacity of transversely prestressed concrete deck slabs by numerical methods. Experiments on a 1:2 scale model of such a bridge were carried out in the laboratory and a 3D nonlinear finite element (FE) model was developed in the finite element analysis software package TNO DIANA (2012) to study the structural behavior in punching shear. A comparison of the experimental and numerical ultimate loads show that the non-linear FE models can predict the load carrying capacity quite accurately with a standard deviation of 0.1 and the coefficient of variation of only 10%. The effect of varying the transverse prestressing level, the presence and size of the ducts, size of the loading plate and the concrete class is also described as part of the parametric study. It was observed that sufficient saving in cost could be made if calibrated numerical models are employed to investigate existing structures rather than doing expensive experimental studies.