Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Postinstalled Shear Connectors: A Case Study of a Strengthened and Monitored Bridge
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Structural and Fire Engineering.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-9627-4713
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Structural and Fire Engineering. Bridge Specialist - Steel Structures, The Swedish Transport Administration, Luleå 972 42, Sweden.ORCID iD: 0000-0003-1435-0071
Luleå University of Technology, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Structural and Fire Engineering.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-8353-9225
EFLA Consulting Engineers, Lyngháls 4, 110 Reykjavík, Iceland.
2025 (English)In: Journal of Bridge Engineering, ISSN 1084-0702, E-ISSN 1943-5592, Vol. 30, no 4, article id 05025001Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Today, steel girder bridges with an overlaying concrete deck are typically designed and constructed as composite structures. This approach optimizes the utilization of materials and structural components. However, many existing steel–concrete bridges were originally designed without shear connectors at the steel–concrete interface. With the increasing demands of heavier traffic loads and a greater number of heavy load cycles, these bridges may sometimes require strengthening. One effective method to enhance their bending moment capacity is to develop composite action by installing shear connectors. One type of connector that is well-suited for postinstallation is the coiled spring pin. These coiled spring pins are inserted from beneath the bridge, passing through holes drilled in both the top flange of the steel structure and the concrete deck. This installation process can be executed seamlessly during ongoing traffic without causing traffic disruptions. This stands in contrast to postinstallation of welded-headed studs, where the pavement, water insulation, and concrete must be removed before the connectors are welded to the steel flange, followed by the application of new concrete and surface protection. This paper presents a monitoring project on a bridge strengthened with postinstalled shear connectors. The measurements were done both before and after the strengthening, which made it possible to evaluate the behavior of the nonstrengthened and strengthened structures. A verification with an finite-element model of the bridge with and without the shear connectors was made. The result from the measurements indicates that the steel girder and the concrete deck act as a composite section both before and after the strengthening at the tested load levels. The evaluation of the results also includes the vertical and longitudinal displacements between the concrete slab and the steel top flange, where the latter displacement is also denoted slip. The slip for the nonstrengthened bridge also indicates a full composite behavior. Due to the lack of shear connectors, other interlocking phenomena are most likely sufficient to achieve composite behavior at the tested load levels. Therefore, after the installation of the shear connectors, only a small reduction of the slip is noticed. Nevertheless, shear connectors significantly enhance the connection at the steel–concrete interface and are more reliable and robust, especially for heavier loads in the ultimate limit state.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 2025. Vol. 30, no 4, article id 05025001
Keywords [en]
Bridge, Case study, Coiled spring pin, Composite action, Monitoring, Shear connector, Steel–concrete interface, Strengthening
National Category
Infrastructure Engineering
Research subject
Structural Engineering
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-111708DOI: 10.1061/JBENF2.BEENG-6923ISI: 001420142300006Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85217569211OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-111708DiVA, id: diva2:1940284
Funder
Svenska Byggbranschens Utvecklingsfond (SBUF), 13227Swedish Transport Administration, 2018-016
Note

Validerad;2025;Nivå 2;2025-02-26 (u5);

Funder: Ramboll Foundation (2014-1); Norwegian Public Road Administration (16/104611-2);

Available from: 2025-02-26 Created: 2025-02-26 Last updated: 2025-10-21Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Vestman, VictorHällmark, RobertCollin, Peter

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Vestman, VictorHällmark, RobertCollin, Peter
By organisation
Structural and Fire Engineering
In the same journal
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Infrastructure Engineering

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 131 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf