A new type of composite bridge deck is currently under research. The concept is to achieve composite action by the adhesion between a thin layer of fiber reinforced concrete and a steel plate. Of special concern is the fatigue strength…
A new type of composite bridge deck is currently under research. The concept is to achieve composite action by the adhesion between a thin layer of fiber reinforced concrete and a steel plate. Of special concern is the fatigue strength of the bond between the concrete and steel plate. In this paper, emphasis is put on the steel-concrete interface and how it performs under cyclic loading. A series of tests have been carried out on composite beams made by casting a layer of self-compacting concrete directly onto the sandblasted surface of a steel plate. A four point bending set-up was used, subjected to static as well as cyclic loading. A good performance of the steel-concrete interface under cyclic loading was observed. Furthermore, in order to analyze the stress/deformation situation in the interface, numerical modeling of the test set-up using the finite element method is carried out. This analysis mainly show that the fatigue threshold load corresponds to the static load level at which interfacial cracks are initiated in the numerical model.