Longitudinal anti-cracking analysis for post-tensioned voided slab bridges

Post-tensioned concrete voided slab girders are widely used in highway bridge constructions. To obtain greater section hollow rate and reduce the self-weight, the plate thickness of slab girders are designed to be small with the adoption of flat anchorage system. Since large prestress is applied to the anchor end section, it was found that longitudinal shear cracks are easy to occur along the voided slab girder. The reason is the existence of great shearing effect at the junction area between web and bottom (top) plate in the anchor end section. This paper focuses on the longitudinal anti-cracking problem at the anchor end of post-tensioned concrete voided slab girders. Two possible models for longitudinal anticracking analysis are proposed. Differential element analysis method is adopted to derive the solving formula of the critical cracking state, and then the practical analysis method for longitudinal anti-cracking is established. The influence of some factors on the longitudinal anti-cracking ability is studied. Results show that the section dimensions (thickness of bottom, web and top plate) and prestress eccentricity on web plate are the main factors that influence the anti-cracking ability. Moreover, the proposed method is applied into three engineering examples to make longitudinal anti-cracking verification for the girders. According to the verification results, the design improvements for these girders are determined.