The purpose of the edge beam is to support the railing and the pavement, function as part of the drainage system and in the case it is integrated into the bridge deck it can serve to distribute concentrated loads. It is located in road environment and therefore exposed to water and salt with chlorides as well as subject to impacts during accidents. It deteriorates in a greater pace than the rest of the bridge and therefore has a shorter lifespan than the bridge in full. A deteriorated edge beam put the safety of the bridge users in jeopardize and increases the need of maintenance, repair and replacement work. These activities affect the surrounding traffic flow due to reduced speed limits as well as closure of traffic lanes. A literature study has been performed to get an understanding of how edge beams are designed and constructed. A great part of this was done by examining codes and regulations. By meeting engineers from different building companies it has been possible to obtain a picture of how it is done in real life and how the path to the final design looks like. Building site visits were carried out to see the process from design to construction i.e. how it is applied in real life. A design study was performed, including a check of crack width in an integrated edge beam over a support, height of bridge deck when a pre-fabricated (brokappa) is used and a comparison in the magnitude of the clamping moment in a steel-concrete bridge with and without an edge beam. All proposals are presented by the Edge Beam Group (EBG, in Swedish, Kantbalksgruppen), which is composed of experienced engineers that works within the frame of the project social optimal edge beam systems governed by the Swedish Transport Administration. The literature research showed that even if the edge bean is prone to deteriorate its lifespan does not have to be governed by its condition. Planned expansion of bridge width and maintenance strategies including the replacement of waterproofing layer could also be a reason for replacement in some cases. A significant increase of reinforcement in the edge beam and top part of the bridge deck over support is needed to obtain an acceptable crack width of 0.15mm. This would however aggravate the casting phase. The use of a pre-fabricated edge beam result in an increase of the bridge deck height. A solution could be to strengthen the anchoring capacity but this could in turn give an over reinforced structure. When it comes to the clamping moment in a steelconcrete composite bridge the integrated edge beam leads to a better distribution of the traffic load. On the other hand, due to the higher dead weight, a bridge deck without an edge beam would result in a lower total moment in the cantilever.

Inledning: Kantbalkar på broar är en utsatt konstruktionsdel som ofta har beständighetsproblem och betongkantbalkar är svåra att utföra till den kvalitet som krävs. I denna studie undersöks möjligheten att byta ut den traditionella betongkantbalken till en fiberförstärkt polymerkomposit (FRP-komposit) med avseende på trafiksäkerhet, beständighet och lönsamhet. Studien omfattar endast brokantbalkar och inte hela brokonstruktioner. Metod: Studien omfattar litteraturstudie och beräkningar. Insamling av information till litteraturstudien sker genom sökning i forskningsdatabaser. Beräkningar utförs genom handberäkningar och med hjälp av programvara. FEM Design 17 används för att ta fram inre spänningar i konstruktionen och Granta EduPack används för att hitta material som uppfyller kraven. Beräkningar utförs i enlighet med Eurokoderna. Resultat: Spänningar i konstruktionen uppgick som högst till 151 MPa. De karakteristiska hållfasthetsvärdena i materialet behövde som högst motsvara minst 240 MPa när reduktionsfaktorer bestämts. Av totalt 782 tillgängliga FRP-kompositer i Granta EduPack fanns 18 som klarade samtliga krav på bärförmåga. Litteraturstudien fann flera tidigare studier där FRP-kompositer använts i brokonstruktioner med goda resultat angående beständighet och långsiktig lönsamhet.Diskussion och slutsatser: Flera antaganden gjordes i beräkningarna, vilka förenklar modellen och påverkar resultatets pålitlighet. Vidare påverkas resultatet av både konstruktionens design och profilers tjocklek. Resultatet av beräkningarna skulle dock kunna användas som en uppskattning av de hållfasthetsvärden som FRP-kompositer behöver uppnå i en kantbalkskonstruktion. Resultatet av litteraturstudien indikerar att en brokantbalk i FRPkomposit skulle vara fördelaktigt beständighetsmässigt, samt att det skulle kunna vara ekonomiskt lönsamt i längden, men det behövs vidare studier för att bekräfta detta. / Introduction: Edge girders on bridges are an exposed structural part that often has durability problems and concrete edge girders are difficult to produce to the required quality. In this study, the possibility of replacing the traditional concrete edge girder with a fibre reinforced polymer composite (FRP-composite) is investigated regarding traffic safety, durability, and profitability.The study covers only bridge edge girders and not entire bridge structures. Method: The study includes literature study and calculations. Collection of information for the literature study is done by searching in research databases. Calculations are performed by hand calculations and with the help of software. FEM Design 17 is used to produce internal stresses in the construction and Granta EduPack is used to find materials that meet the requirements. Calculations are conducted in accordance with the Eurocodes. Results: Stresses in the construction amounted to a maximum of 151 MPa. The characteristic strength values in the material had to correspond at most to at least 240 MPa when reduction factors were determined. Out of a total of 782 available FRP-composites in Granta EduPack, there were 18 that met all the load-bearing capacity requirements. The literature study found several previous studies where FRP-composites were used in bridge structures with good results regarding durability and long-term profitability. Discussion and conclusions: Several assumptions were made in the calculations, which simplify the model and affect the reliability of the results. Furthermore, the result if affected by both the design of the construction and the thickness of the profiles. However, the result of the calculations could be used as an estimate of the strength values that FRP-composites need to achieve in an edge girder construction. The results of the literature study indicate that a bridge edge girder in FRP-composite could be advantageous in terms of durability, and that it could be economically profitable in the long run, but further studies are needed to confirm this

In the past few years, some experimental investigations have been conducted to verify seismic behaviour of fiber reinforced polymer reinforced concrete (FRP-RC) beam-column joints. Those researches were mainly focused on exterior beam-column joints without lateral beams. However, lateral beams, commonly exist in buildings, can significantly improve seismic performance of the joints. Moreover, the way the longitudinal beam bars are anchored in the joint, either using headed-end or bent bars, was not adequately addressed. This study aims to fill these gaps and investigate the shear capacity of FRP-RC exterior beam-column joints confined with lateral beams, and the effect of beam reinforcement anchorage on their seismic behaviour. Six full-scale exterior beam-column joints were constructed and tested to failure under reversal cyclic loading. Test results showed that the presence of lateral beams significantly increased the shear capacity of the joints. Moreover, replacing bent bars with headed-end bars resulted in more ductile behaviour of the joints.

In the past few years, some experimental investigations have been conducted to verify seismic behaviour of fiber reinforced polymer reinforced concrete (FRP-RC) beam-column joints. Those researches were mainly focused on exterior beam-column joints without lateral beams. However, lateral beams, commonly exist in buildings, can significantly improve seismic performance of the joints. Moreover, the way the longitudinal beam bars are anchored in the joint, either using headed-end or bent bars, was not adequately addressed. This study aims to fill these gaps and investigate the shear capacity of FRP-RC exterior beam-column joints confined with lateral beams, and the effect of beam reinforcement anchorage on their seismic behaviour. Six full-scale exterior beam-column joints were constructed and tested to failure under reversal cyclic loading. Test results showed that the presence of lateral beams significantly increased the shear capacity of the joints. Moreover, replacing bent bars with headed-end bars resulted in more ductile behaviour of the joints.

Yes / A full-scale composite floor plate was tested to investigate the flexural behavior and in-plane effects of the floor slab in a grillage of composite beams that reduces the tendency for longitudinal splitting of the concrete slab along the line of the primary beams. This is important in cases where the steel decking is discontinuous when it is orientated parallel to the beams. In this case, it is important to demonstrate that the amount of transverse reinforcement required to transfer local forces from the shear connectors can be reduced relative to the requirements of Eurocode 4. The mechanism under study involved in-plane compression forces being developed in the slab due to the restraining action of the floor plate, which was held in position by the peripheral composite beams; while the secondary beams acted as transverse ties to resist the forces in the floor plate that would otherwise lead to splitting of the slab along the line of the primary beams. The tendency for cracking along the center line of the primary beam and at the peripheral beams was closely monitored. This is the first large floor plate test that has been carried out under laboratory conditions since the Cardington tests in the early 1990s, although those tests were not carried out to failure. This floor plate test was designed so that the longitudinal force transferred by the primary beams was relatively high (i.e., it was designed for full shear connection), but the transverse reinforcement was taken as the minimum of 0.2% of the concrete area. The test confirmed that the primary beams reached their plastic bending resistance despite the discontinuous decking and transverse reinforcement at the minimum percentage given in Eurocode 4. Based on this test, a reduction factor due to shear connectors at edge beams without U-bars is proposed.