There is an ongoing concern about premature cracking of concrete bridge decks. Bridge deck cracking reduces the service life of bridges and results in increased maintenance and replacement costs. Ideally, a deck should last as long as the support structure with minimal maintenance. However, bridge decks typically need to be replaced two or more times before the structure needs to be replaced. Such a differential in element service life is inefficient and costly and can cause unnecessary, repeated work zone hazards. This work aimed at assessing the benefits of using different types of lightweight fine aggregate (LWFA) in concrete mixtures to increase the probability of achieving crack-free, long-lasting bridge decks. A laboratory testing program was developed and conducted to address concerns specific to bridge decks. The laboratory testing led to the recommended mix design for implementation on a bridge construction project. Construction of the two bridge decks involved a control using a conventional mix design and the other containing slag cement and internal curing (IC). The decks were instrumented and inspected after construction and one year after placement. A life-cycle analysis was also conducted to assess feasibility of the recommendations.

人们一直担心混凝土桥面板过早开裂。桥面板开裂会缩短桥的使用寿命，并导致维护和更换成本增加。理想情况下，甲板的使用寿命应与支撑结构的使用寿命一样长，而维护费用却很少。然而，在需要更换结构之前，桥梁甲板通常需要更换两次或更多次。元件使用寿命的这种差异效率低下且成本高昂，并且可能导致不必要的重复工作区危害。这项工作旨在评估在混凝土混合物中使用不同类型的轻质细骨料（LWFA）的益处，以增加获得无裂缝，持久的桥面板的可能性。制定并执行了一项实验室测试程序，以解决桥面板特有的问题。实验室测试得出了建议的混合料设计，以用于桥梁建设项目。两个桥面的施工涉及使用常规混合设计进行的控制，另一个包含矿渣水泥和内部养护（IC）。在建造后和放置一年后对甲板进行检测和检查。还进行了生命周期分析，以评估建议的可行性。