Experimental Evaluation of Flexural Static and Fatigue Strength of an Innovative Splice for Prestressed Precast Concrete Girders

This paper describes flexural static and fatigue laboratory testing of a new connection design for spliced, prestressed precast I-girders. Intended for use as a field-spliced moment-carrying connection, the joint is prestressed at the jobsite using hydraulic jacks in the joint area. The new design was developed to achieve longer spans than currently permitted by transportation limits for precast segments. Behavior at the splice is similar to that of unbonded joints in segmental bridges. Whether the prestressed joint is considered bonded or unbonded for ultimate strength calculations, the spliced test specimens outperformed established calculated values when either loaded statically or after fatigue loading. (C) 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.