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SYNOPSIS
Reactive powder concrete (RPC) is a cementitious material consisting of cement,
sand, silica fume, silica flour, admixture and water. Ductal is a RPC that contains
large quantities of steel or organic fibres. It was developed by Bouygues, Lafarge and
Rhodia and is produced locally by VSL Australia. The properties of Ductal are unique,
and allow designers to create innovative bridge structures of value that are both
structurally efficient and provide excellent resistance to aggressive agents.
Around the world, many examples of innovative RPC bridges exist. They include the
worlds first RPC pedestrian bridge, Sherbrooke Footbridge in Quebec, Canada; the
120m span Sunyudu Footbridge in Seoul, Korea; Sakata-Mirai Footbridge in Japan,
and more recent highway bridges in Virginia and Iowa, United States of America.
In Australia, the worlds first road bridge built using Ductal was completed in October
2004 at Shepherds Creek. This project was used as an evaluation of the material by
the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA), New South Wales. A policy statement giving
approval for Ductal to be used on RTA bridges and structures was issued in
September 2005. In New Zealand, a series of footbridges have been constructed
using a Ductal superstructure with spans up to 20m, precast in Australia in sections
and post-tensioned prior to erection.
This paper provides a summary of the properties of Ductal, design considerations,
and primarily gives examples of reactive powder bridges around the world.
1.
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necessitates the need for a design guide. Research was hence undertaken at the
UNSW in view of developing a design guide for Ductal complying with the intent of
the Australian Standard for Concrete Structures (AS 3600) [3]. Part of the research
included beam tests to evaluate shear strength parameters and mechanical tests for
strength to set characteristic design strength. The development of this guide takes
into account the extensive material research undertaken in France where the original
development took place, including accelerated chloride ion exposure tests to develop
minimum cover and durability parameters, of the material took place.
200
40
Stress [MPa]
175
150
125
100
75
50
25
0
0
10
13
-3
30
20
10
0
0
140-160 MPa
47,000 MPa
24 MPa
20 MPa
2450 kg/m3
500 microns
Almost 0 microns
Deflection [mm]
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Total porosity
Microporosity (>10m)
Permeability (air)
Water absorption
Chloride ions diffusion
Electrical resistance (excluding steel fibres)
Electrical resistance (including steel fibres)
Abrasion resistance coefficient
2.
2-6%
< 1%
2.510-18 m2
< 0.2 kg/m2
0.0210-12 m2/s
1.13103 k.cm
137 k.cm
1.3
The state-of-the-art of RPC road bridges can be described at the present as being on
the verge of moving from research bridges, which have been monitored over a period
of time, to the applications of RPC in a cost-effective life cycle costed bridge. A major
RPC road bridge has yet to be constructed, but in the view of the author such project
will be likely to occur in the near future.
Shepherds Creek Road Bridge: NSW, Australia
Secondary transport roads in Australia are dominated by short span highway bridges,
many of which are approaching design life and carrying capacity limits. The design
live load for bridges was recently increased substantially and many existing bridges
in Australia will need to have their superstructure upgraded or loading limits will
apply. The Ductal solution developed for the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) of
New South Wales by VSL Australia and rationalised in the construction of the
Shepherds Creek Bridge is considered an evaluation trial of the material, design
procedures and constructability of Ductal.
The Shepherds Creek Bridge replaces an existing timber bridge. It comprises four
traffic lanes and a footway (Figure 2a). The design live loading is the maximum of
T44 and HLP320 truck loading. The bridge is a single span of 15m with a 16o skew.
The superstructure, shown during construction below in Figure 2b, comprises 16
precast pre-tensioned RPC beams and an in-situ 170mm thick reinforced concrete
deck slab. The slab is placed onto thin permanent precast RPC formwork panels that
span between the beams. The beams are of I-section, with a total depth of 600mm
(Figure 2a) and spaced at 1.3m. The formwork slabs are 1.1m wide, 2.4m long, with
a thickness of only 25mm
The construction of the bridge followed the same procedures as the construction
using conventional concrete beams and slabs. The beams have the significant
advantage of weighing 4.2 tonnes (280 kg/m) over a length of 15.1m. This compares
to about 9 tonnes for a conventional prestressed beam. The permanent formwork
slabs are also extremely light and provide a highly durable soffit to the deck.
As part of the RTA certification programme for Ductal, the Shepherds creek bridge
was load tested on completion of the first stage, comprising the first 2 lanes, and
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again one year later. The load tests were carried out by the RTA using its purpose
built load test rig with a test load induced effects into the bridge equivalent to 1.5
times the T44 serviceability load. The tests confirmed that the behaviour of the bridge
conforms to the design, with the deflection of the most highly loaded girder being only
5mm compared to the theoretical estimate of 6mm. Figure 2c shows the bridge open
to highway traffic. In September 2005, the RTA issued a policy statement giving
approval for Ductal to be used on RTA bridges and structures. Further project
information can be found in [5].
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c. Completed bridge
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b. Completed bridge
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Production of the Papatoetoe bridge beams commenced in December 2004 and was
completed over a ten week period. To achieve the required architectural shape and
surface finish, a special steel formwork was utilised, comprised of a fixed internal
form and two side forms that shape the exterior surface and web penetrations. The
larger elements were match cast in two segments to allow later transportation on
standard 40-foot containers (Figure 9b).
The RPC beams were post-tensioned on site after delivery to New Zealand. Prior to
erection a topping surface made of ordinary concrete was applied to the Ductal
superstructure. This surface was graded in accordance with accessibility guidelines
and has a varying thickness. Steel hand rails were secured directly to the RPC
superstructure. A more detailed project account is given by Rebentrost [15].
A second footbridge at Penrose Station also in Auckland has recently been
completed using the same Ductal bridge element utilised on the Papatoetoe Station
footbridge. The bridge has a total length of 265m consisting of 15 spans of mostly
20m, and was opened to the public in March 2006. VSL Australia again prefabricated
the elements in Australia, to be post-tensioned and erected in New Zealand. The
same fabrication process were utilised and with the experience gained from the
Papatoetoe project, improved production cycles were achieved. Figure [9d] shows
the completed Penrose Footbridge. Later this year, fabrication of RPC bridge
elements for a third and fourth bridge in Auckland will commence.
4.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
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5.
REFERENCES
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