Abstract
Early-age cracking on concrete bridge decks is a major concern because it leads to premature deterioration of bridges. Most of the cracks formed during the curing stage of concrete are due to the drying shrinkage. This paper presents the experimental and analytical investigation of shrinkage-induced stresses and strains within large-scale bridge prototype. Three large-scale bridge decks of 7 x 10 ft were built using three different types of concrete mixtures: (1) a mixture containing 100% Portland cement, (2) a mixture incorporate Type-K cement and (3) a mixture containing partially saturated fine lightweight aggregate (LWA) to promote internal curing. The results show that the LWA concrete mixture induced the least amount of stresses within the deck while the Type-K developed the largest stresses at the end of six-month shrinkage period. The finite element simulation was used to predict the shrinkage of concrete decks with a reasonable accuracy.