Experimental investigation on the beam-slab connection behavior of a

damaged real railway bridge

A. P. C. Neto, E. P. Lima, R. P. Hune, T. N. Bittencourt, A. B. Colombo & C. T. Yanagihara
University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

ABSTRACT: Providing efficient beam-slab connections in bridge structural systems when precast elements
are involved is a task that requires special care with the details of the applied solution to real bridges, special-
ly when railway bridges are concerned. Due to the magnitude and repeatability of the applied external forces
to the bridge (dynamic wheel loads from railway vehicles), different problems can arise and, among them, the
low-cycle fatigue resistance of the connectors may be important. If fatigue failure of the connectors occurs in
a successive way, then the defective beam-slab connection tends to turn the bridge behavior as if the slab was
simply supported but unconnected to the beam (in this limit case the slab freely slides over the beam). This
paper presents an experimental case study of a railway bridge with two simply supported spans which, as it
was observed in the field inspection, had a beam-slab connection system insufficient to resist the generated
internal stresses, mainly during the crossing of heavy haul vehicles like iron ore trains. Visual inspection has
detected the occurrence of cracking and failure of connecting steel bars in the regions of the bridge bearings.
The bridge was repaired and it was instrumented mainly with strain gages and displacements transducers in
two relevant situations: before and after repair. Strains in the stirrups (connectors) and concrete have been
monitored; relative displacement between beam and slab and absolute vertical displacement of the beams
were measured. The analysis of the obtained results allowed quantification and conclusions about the general
improvement in performance of the beam-slab connection after the intervention. Finally, heavy wheel loads
measurement in the railway, numerical modeling, NDT tests and acceleration measurements have comple-
mented the information obtained for the bridge assessment.

would collaborate for bonding the beam/slab inter-

1 INTRODUCTION
The investigated concrete bridge was constructed in
the 2000’s decade and had about eight years of use
when it was first studied by the authors (Figure 1). It
is an infrastructure element from one of the most
important Brazilian railway ore corridors. It has two
identical isostatic spans (16 m; Figure 1a), each one
composed by two parallel precast pre-stressed con-
crete girders so that, over them, transversal precast
concrete plate elements were positioned in order to
support the pouring of an in-situ concrete slab. The
connections of the pre-stressed girders and the slab
(Figure 1c) are made by mean of stirrups, designed
to cross the rectangular holes already present in the
precast plates (Figure 1b). During the concrete pour-
ing of the slab it was supposed that the fresh con-
crete would completely fill in the holes, in such a
way that the concrete around each stirrup connector
face. The longitudinal girders are supported by elas-
tomeric bearing pads that sit over the support col-
umn blocks.
The bridge was recently subjected to a visual in-
spection in which the following main defects were
observed:
a) Existence of abnormally opened structural in-
clined cracks close to the support regions of all four
pre-stressed girders, in both vertical faces of the
girders (Figure 2a);
b) Relative displacement, clearly visible, of about 3
mm between girder and slab were measured in the
region closed to the beam supports (region where the
shear force is maximum);
c) Failure (most likely due to low cycle fatigue) of
one of the stirrups at the support region of the longi-
tudinal girder, close to the girder/slab interface (Fig-
ure 2b). This stirrup was no longer functional in
supporting the shear stress in that interface and a re-
distribution of stresses among the stirrups around it
had already occurred.

a) Longitudinal view of the bridge (elevation).

b) Pre-cast plate with the rectangular c) Pre-stressed precast girder with their connectors (stirrups) be-
openings for the connectors. fore concreting and post tensioning.
Figure 1. Views of the railway bridge, the pre-slab plates and the stirrup connectors.

a) Inclined cracks at bearing region. b) stirrup failure.

Figure 2. View of a girder typical crack occurrence for all the bearing regions and of the failure in one of the stirrups
close to the girder to slab interface (bearing region of girder was uncovered for visual inspection and instrumentation).

In a few words, the presented scenario was suspi-

cious, clearly indicating the probable progressive
failure of the shear resistance of girder-to-slab con-
nection around one of the bridge bearings. In face of
this, the railway administration decided to monitor
the behavior of the defective structure and to, later,
reinforce it. The monitoring was carried out for the
two situations, before and after the reinforcement.
The results obtained in these two monitoring cycles
are presented and analyzed in this paper.. Non-
destructive tests were also performed, so that com-
plementary information about the global state of the
bridge was obtained.
2 INSTRUMENTATION
Strain transducers, strain gages, displacement induc-
tive transducers and capacitive accelerometers were
installed on different positions over the bridge.
Wireless equipment was employed for transmitting
and acquiring signals when the trains were crossing
the bridge. Digital acquisition equipment and appro-
priate software were used for acquiring and analyz-
ing the information obtained. The purpose of in-
strumentation was to collect the necessary
information for structural assessment of the bridge
as a whole and, in particular, obtain data that could
be enough to correctly identify and quantify the de-
fects mentioned in the introduction above. For this
analysis, measured strains at the mid-span section,
relative horizontal displacement between girder and
slab at the bearing region, vertical displacement
measured in the mid-span section of the most defec-
tive girder and strain in the (apparently) undamaged
stirrups shown in Figure 2b were used. These results
(except the stirrup strain gages, which were de-
stroyed during the reinforcement operation and
could not be measured after reinforcement), as pre-
sented below, were registered during the crossings
of heavy iron ore trains in conditions before and af-
ter bridge reinforcement. For a brief description of
the position of these instruments see Figures 3 and 4.

a) Mid-span section. b) ~ 1,5m from support region. c) ~ ¼ of span.

Figure 3. Parameters of interest for analysis: strains in concrete girder (E5 to E8 / mid-span), horizontal relative displace-
ments between girder and slab (Dh3 to Dh6) and vertical displacement (Dv1 and Dv2 / mid-spam).

Figure 4. Parameters of interest for analysis: stirrup instrumentation (two strain gages per stirrup, positioned opposite one an-
other, E13A, B to E16A, B).

site strain gage (E16B) in the same stirrup is nega-

3 OBTAINED RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
3.1 Situation before reinforcement and description
of the reinforcing strategy
3.1.1 Stirrups strain and stress and relative hori-
zontal displacement between girder and slab
close to the support region
Analyzing the graphs in Figure 5:
─Before the structural reinforcement, the maxi-
mum measured strain at the stirrup (E16A), which
was installed closed to the support of one of the
girders, was about 2,500x10-06(Figure 5a). This
means that the correspondent stress is about 500
MPa, which is the magnitude of the yielding stress
for the steel bar. Furthermore, the strain at the oppo-
tive (-750x10-06), denoting that this rebar is also sub-
jected to bending when the train crosses the bridge.
That represents a critical situation in terms of struc-
tural safety.
─.The maximum horizontal displacement be-
tween slab and girder, measured close to the beam to
slab interface was about 3,0 mm (Figure 5b); this in-
dicates a probably excessive displacement, indicat-
ing that the slab is slipping, in some way, over the
girder.
3.1.2 Strain and stress at the mid-span cross-
section.
In the graphs in Figure 6 one can see the strain sig-
nals as function of time (Figure 6a) and strain varia-
tion in the mid-span cross-section (girder and slab─
results obtained after zooming the strain x time sig-
nal graph ─Figure 6b─ in the region of maximum
measured strains ).
─ Before structural reinforcement, the measured
strain is about zero (Figure 6b) in the region close to
the slab’s superior face (indicating probably the ex-
istence of low capacity of transmission of shear
stress to the interface slab/girder and low solidari-
ty/stiffness in the set slab plus girder). On the pre-
stressed girder the stress distribution of the cross-
section at mid-span follows the Bernoulli hypothe-
sis. Most bending was resisted by the girder but not
by the slab.

a) Strain in the stirrups. b) Slab to girder relative displacement.

Figure 5. Strain in the stirrups and slab to girder relative displacement (loaded iron ore train); situation “before”.

b) Mid-section height x strain (zoom / region of

a) Strain x time.
maximum strains in 5a).
Figure 6. Strains at girder mid-spam section (following Bernoulli hypothesis) and slab during the crossing of a loaded iron ore
train. Zoom interval: 24,19 s to 26,36 s; situation “before”.

a) Displacement x time; situation “before”. b) View of reinforcement clips installation.

Figure 7. Displacement at girder mid-spam during the crossing of a loaded iron ore train and a view of slab to girder connection
reinforcement.
3.1.3 Vertical displacement at mid-span and rein-
forcing strategy
Figure 7 shows vertical displacement measured at
mid-span in the situation “ before”; it shows the sig-
nal acquired when the loaded iron ore train was
crossing the bridge (Figure 7a).
A view of the reinforcement operation is shown
in Figure 7b; reinforcement clips were installed in-
side holes, which were filled with a special resin
across the deck. Additionally, carbon fiber rein-
forcement was installed at the cracked regions (close
to the bridge supports) of the pre-stressed girders
(not shown in the picture).

a) Slab to girder relative displacement. b) Vertical displacement at mid-span

Figure 8. Displacements: horizontal relative and vertical (loaded iron ore train); situation “after”.
Note: Loaded iron ore trains have been weighted by mean of a WIM system and the locomotives / wagons and their respective axle
loads are about the same for all trains of this type that run on this railway

a) Strain x time. b) Mid-section height x strain (zoom / region of

maximum strains in 9a).
Figure 9. Strains at girder mid-span section (following Bernoulli hypothesis) and slab during the crossing of a load-
ed iron ore train. Zoom interval: 148,65 s to 149,77 s; situation “after”.

N= 1.815 kN

N= 1.815 kN

L/2

Figure 10. Finite element solution: axial force in the girder at mid-span cross section (continuous girder and slab in-
terface)
3.2 Situation after
3.2.1 Girder to slab horizontal displacement close
to the support region and vertical displace-
ment at mid-span.
Displacements in Figure 8a and Figure 8b (“after”),
above, can be respectively compared to Figure 5b
and Figure 7a (“before”). The relative horizontal
displacements between slab and girder measured by
transducers DH3 and DH4 in the situation “after” is
about 1/3 that measured in the situation “before”, in-
dicating that the reinforcing intervention had been
successful. The vertical displacement at mid-span, as
can be seen in Figure 8b and Figure7a, in the situa-
tion “after” is about 70% that in situation “before”,
indicating that the stiffness of the set girder plus slab
had been significantly improved after the interven-
tion.
3.2.2 Strain and stress at the mid-span cross sec-
tion
─As already commented above for Figure 6, in
the graphs of Figure 9 we can see strain signals as
function of time (Figure 9a) and strain variation in
the mid-span cross section (girder and slab ─results
obtained after zooming the strain x time signal graph
─Figure 9b─ in the region of maximum measured
strains).
─After structural reinforcement, the measured
strain was about -160x10-06 (Figure 9b) in the region
close to the slab superior face (clearly indicating the
existence of much better capacity of transfer of shear
stress of the slab/girder interface and significant im-
provement of solidarity/stiffness in the set slab plus
girder). On the pre-stressed girder the stress distribu-
tion at the mid-span section follows the Bernoulli
hypothesis and the neutral axis in the situation be-
fore reinforcement (height = 400 mm / Figure 6b)
moved up to about 500 mm (Figure 9b). Bending
was now resisted by composite action by the girder
and slab.
─Another way to assess the quality of the clip re-
inforcement applied to the slab/girder interface is by
calculating the resultant axial force acting only in
the girder at the mid-span cross section. That is be-
cause this resultant is equivalent to the integral of
the shear stresses in the longitudinal section at the
slab/girder interface. With information regarding the
geometry of the mid-span cross section, the rein-
forcement areas and the strain distribution (Figures
6b and 9b), the stresses in the concrete and steel
were calculated and integrated into resultant axial
forces. The value of these effectively measured forc-
es may be compared to the value of the axial force
calculated as if the girder and slab were perfectly
solidary (continuous) without pre-cast plates and
posterior poured slab. This solution can be obtained
by numerical calculation using sectional analysis,
which was done and whose results can be found in
Figure 10 and Table 1.
Table 1. Axial forces and estimated efficiency of slab to girder
connection
Situation
N Estimated Quality Factor
(kN) QF (%)
Continuous 1815 100
Before Reinforce-
860 47.4
ment
After Reinforce-
ment
1245 68.6
As demonstrated in Table 1, the quality factor of
the slab to girder connection has been significantly
improved after the clip reinforcement operation.
However, despite this fact, information about the
remaining useful life could not be obtained. It is well
known that the probability of occurrence of low cy-
cle fatigue in stirrups causes concern to railway ad-
ministrators. Hence, the railway administration has
already decided to support another monitoring
fieldwork in near future.
4 ADDITIONAL NDT PROCEDURES
Visual inspection of the structure was carried out
during the field work. Except for the anomalies that
have been already described in the items above, the
infra, meso and superstructure of the bridge can be
considered as in a satisfactory state. A few aspects
could be mentioned as causing concern in the near
future but they are not discussed now. Also some
nondestructive tests were carried out. Their results
are presented and commented below as title of addi-
tional information.
Non-destructive methods – impact hammer and
ultrasound – were applied to the concrete structure
in order to qualitatively estimate the mechanical
properties of concrete, such as compressive strength
and the modulus of concrete. Also, phenolphthalein
tests were made in order to verify the carbonation
depth.
Initially, to perform the non-destructive tests, a
map of the rebar positions was defined by a rebar
detector (Profoscope - Proceq) for six different
zones in the structure as in the Figure 11. This is
done to avoid any possible interference that the steel
can represent in the test results. The first test was
carried out with a concrete impact hammer Sil-
verSchmidt with standard impact energy of 2.207
N.m. This test was performed according to the Bra-
zilian Code NBR 7584 (ABNT, 1995) and following sults from the concrete test hammer. After the car-
the manufacturer recommendations. At least nine bonation test was carried out a correction factor of
impacts at each point of measurement, as distant as 45% (lower than maximum permitted by the product
possible from the rebars, were applied. manufacturer) was applied to the final results. The
As a carbonated layer can significantly interfere final estimated compressive strength values are
in this test results (compressive strength of con- summarized in Table 2.
crete), a correction factor must be applied to the re-
Solid concrete slab
TRECHOEMLAJEMACIÇA
MOLDADAEMLOCO

Z4 V1 V3 Z6

Axis of Z2 Z7

VT4
EIXODAPONTE
VT1

symmetry
ENCONTROE1 Z1 Z3 Z5 ENCONTROE2
(BH) (VITÓRIA)

V2 V4

Prestressed beam
VIGAPRÉ-MOLDADAPROTENDIDA

Figure 11. Bridge’s blue print.

VISTA ESQUEMÁTICA EMPLANTA
Table 2. Estimated compressive strength of concrete by test pressive strength of concrete. This work considered
hammer. the criteria used by Neville (1982) as in Table 3.
Zones fck,est (MPa)
1 22.0 Table 3. Criteria as Neville (1982)
2 27.7 Propagation Velocity (m/s) Concrete Quality
3a 24.1 V > 4500 Excellent
3b 26.6 3500 < V <LA4500
JEMOLDADANOLOCAL
Good
4a 30.0 3000 < V < 3500 Regular
Z1,Z2
4b Z3,Z4 25.1
SEÇÃOTÍPICA SEÇÃOVARIÁVEL
2000 < V < 3000 Z5,Z6 Z7 Bad
5a 31.3
V1,V 2 V <V3,V
2000
4 Very Bad
ENCONTROE1 5b 27.7 VIGAPRÉ-MOLDADAPROTENDIDA
With the results from the ultrasonic testENCOthe
NTROdy-
E2
(BH)
AP1 6a 28.1 namic modulus (Ed) and compressive strength (VITÓRIA)
of
6b 29.1
concrete (fc) were estimated using the procedure
The results in Table 2 show that the structure pre- proposed by Cánovas (1988). TableAP34 summarizes
sents a mean value of compressive strength greater the estimated compressive strength for two different
than 22 MPa. The zones 2 to 6 represents points over zones. It is important to mention that for each zone
the pre-stressed beams which in this case presents a four tests were performed and that according to Bra-
compressive strength at minimum of 24 MPa. For zilian code NBR 12655 (ABNT, 1996) a factor of
the sake of comparison the compressive strength es- 0.89 must be applied to the mean value of fc for es-
tablished
VISTby the original
A LONGITUDINAL design was 40 MPa. The re- timating fck in each zone.
sults also suggest that the concrete can be considered
as heterogeneous in some way. AP2 Table 4. Estimated compressive strength of concrete by ultra-
sonic test.
Another non-destructive test that was applied to Zone
Time Velocity Ed fc fck,est
verify the elasticity dynamic modulus of the con- (µsec) (m/s) (GPa) (MPa) (MPa)
crete and to check strength was the ultrasonic test. 83.4 3789.0 31.0 22.6
82.4 3835.0 31.8 23.6
This test was carried out following the recommenda- 1 21.1
82.9 3811.8 31.4 23.1
tions of the Brazilian code NBR 8802 (ABNT, 80.4 3930.3 33.4 25.6
1994). A PUNDIT LAB - Portable ultrasonic non- 58.4 4075.3 35.9 29.2
destructive testing – manufactured by Proceq was 4a
57.4 4146.3 37.1 31.1
27.2
used in this test. Since the pulse velocity inside the 58.4 4109.6 36.5 30.1
concrete depends on its density and its elastic prop- 56.9 4165.2 37.5 31.7
erties, which are associated with the quality and the The results presented in Table 4 and the criteria
compressive strength of the concrete, this device of Table 3, show that the concrete can be classified
measures the time a wave takes to cross the con- as of good quality. Also, according to Bungey and
crete. Knowing the distance between the emission Millard (2006), in order to consider the concrete as
and reception points of the ultrasonic pulse one can homogeneous the coefficient of variation of the ul-
compute the velocity of propagation. This velocity is trasonic tests must not exceed 2.5% for the meas-
an indicator of the quality, homogeneity and com- urements of velocity. The results show that most of
the tests presented a coefficient of variation that is
less than 2.5%. The values for zone 1 and 4a is 1.4
and 1.0, respectively, which indicates a concrete of
good quality. As an indication, the values of fc,est are
relatively low when compared to the compressive
strength of concrete requested in the original project
that was 40 MPa.
4.1 Durability of Concrete - Carbonation
The most common deterioration process in rein-
forced concrete structures is corrosion (Vu and
Stewart, 2000, Zhou et al. 2014). However, the initi-
ation of this deterioration process has in the steel de-
passivation its primary occurrence condition. The
penetration of CO2 is an external agent that is capa-
ble of reducing pH (below 9.5) and initiating corro-
sion. A considerable effort in modeling the carbona-
tion of RC, in order to predict service life of
structures has been made from a variety of authors
and projects (e.g., Smolczyk 1969, Tuuti 1982, He-
lene 1986, DuraCrete 1999, Jiang 2000, Hyvert
2009).
In order to analyze the depth of carbonation front
six different openings, as deep as the first layer of
reinforcement, were performed in different parts of
the structure. Then, phenolphthalein diluted in 1% of
ethyl alcohol was sprinkled on these freshly exposed
surfaces. The measurements of the carbonation
depth were carried out by a caliper rule of precision
0.01mm. Ten measurements were performed for
each test and the mean value of each opening were
considered to define the final value of the carbona-
tion front. Table 5 presents the results of phenol-
phthalein tests. After the tests the openings were
filled with fresh concrete avoiding any sort of future
damage due to the exposition of the rebars.
Table 5. Mean and Standard Deviations of Carbonation depth
Mean Standard
Opening CoV(%)
(mm) Deviation
1 3.6 1.1 30.7
2 10.4 1.5 14.6
3 5.9 1.1 18.8
4 8.4 0.7 8.0
5 2.1 0.6 30.4
6 3.1 0.8 24.3
From the results in Table 3, one can conclude that
the concrete is heterogeneous in some way, based on
the fact that the coefficient of variation shows a
great discrepancy among the different openings.
Measurements of the concrete cover were done and
the typical value founded for all the regions inspect-
ed was 20 mm.
5. CONCLUSIONS
An experimental method for analyzing the quality of
clipping reinforcement of a bridge composed by pre-
stressed precast girders and their connections to con-
crete pre-slab and slab elements was herein present-
ed. Relevant aspects of structural assessment of the
bridge safety, including additional information on
visual inspection and a few NDT’s results were pre-
sented. The bridge was considered in good condi-
tions, in general, but with critical defects relative to
the connections slab to girders. The material (struc-
tural concrete) was considered of good quality but,
in some way, non homogeneous. The reinforcement
operation was considered successful because a con-
siderable improvement in capacity of support shear
stresses at the girder to slab interface was obtained.
As the durability of the reinforced bridge could not
be perfectly demonstrated, the railway administra-
tors had decided to make a new bridge monitoring in
near future.
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