Unified approach for bridge deck design

Current Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code includes design provisions to establish live load demands in (i) reinforced concrete decks over longitudinal girders, (ii) orthotropic deck over longitudinal girders, and (iii) orthotropic deck over transverse beams. However, it only provides an equation for factored applied moment on concrete deck under single point load. Similar equations for orthotropic decks are as yet unavailable. As such, parametric study was conducted to lead to new empirical expressions for moment in bridge decks subjected to truck wheel loading considering each of the three cases of orthotropy: (i) relatively torsionally stiff, flexurally soft decks; (ii) relatively uniformly thick decks; and (iii) relatively torsionally soft, flexurally stiff decks. Using the proposed formulations, bridge deck design can be treated in a unified way across different deck types, accounting for longitudinal-transverse flexural rigidity of decks. Application of these methods can significantly simplify the analysis of decks and allow bridge engineers to make comparisons across different deck design alternatives.