Research on Mechanical Properties of the Composite Bridge Deck System Composed of Orthotropic Steel Deck and RPC Layer under Normal Temperature Curing
Hui Zhang1,*, Yingying Xie1, Yu Zhang2,*, Zhan Gao1, Aijun Li1, Sheng Shi1, Xingyue Li1, Zheming Zhou1, Haotian Wang1
1 School of Civil Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou, China
2 School of Traffic and Transportation, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou, China
* Corresponding Author: Hui Zhang. Email: 
" />; Yu Zhang. Email: " />
Structural Durability & Health Monitoring https://doi.org/10.32604/sdhm.2026.075835
Received 09 November 2025; Accepted 15 January 2026; Published online 04 March 2026
Abstract
A composite bridge deck system consisting of an orthotropic steel deck and a normal-temperature-cured reactive powder concrete (RPC) layer is proposed to address the problems of pavement damage and fatigue cracks in steel bridge decks. In this study, a local finite element model of a bridge segment was established using ANSYS to calculate and compare the stress states of four deck systems: normal-temperature-cured RPC composite box girders, high-temperature-cured RPC composite box girders, pure steel box girders, and ordinary concrete composite box girders. Additionally, static load tests were conducted on a scaled local model to validate the finite element results. The results show that the compressive strength, flexural strength, and elastic modulus of the normal-temperature-cured RPC are significantly improved compared with those of ordinary concrete. The maximum tensile stress in the normal-temperature-cured RPC layer reached 6.45 MPa without cracking, which is much higher than the tensile capacity of ordinary concrete, thereby offering a solution to pavement failure. The stress in the steel deck was reduced by more than 80% for both normal- and high-temperature-cured RPC composite decks, which is significantly greater than the reduction achieved by the ordinary concrete composite deck. This substantial stress reduction greatly enhances the fatigue life of the bridge deck. Therefore, the RPC composite deck system can effectively improve the fatigue performance of orthotropic steel bridge decks.
Graphical Abstract
Keywords
Orthotropic steel deck; normal temperature maintenance; reactive powder concrete
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