International Workshop on
Innovative Bridge Deck Technologies

The International Workshop on Innovative Bridge Deck Technologies, held in Winnipeg on April 14-15, 2005, was highly successful. Presentations were made by 18 invited speakers from five countries in order to establish the state-of-the-art for the design of bridge decks. A peer-reviewed proceedings book will be published in Fall 2005. The objective of the workshop was to develop a consensus on future design of bridge decks to provide leadership to the civil engineering design community. A consensus was developed at the workshop to establish “The ISIS Canada Winnipeg Principles” that is destined to create a paradigm shift in the design of bridge decks.

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ISIS Canada Winnipeg Principles
An Assessment of the State of the Art of Concrete Deck Slabs

It is the consensus of the attendees at the International Workshop on Innovative Bridge Deck Technologies held in Winnipeg on April 14-15, 2005, that the state of the art is now well established in the following particulars.

(a) That inherent arching action is present in concrete bridge deck slabs in the transverse direction, and that in consequence, relevant deck slabs, such as those in composite slab on girder bridges, should preferably be designed in accordance with such arching action, whereby the top reinforcement is no longer required for strength and the arching action is achieved by one of:

i) internal bottom reinforcement in the concrete, which may be steel or FRP, and which should be designed by stiffness considerations and for concrete crack control; or
ii) stay in place formwork, which may be of steel, concrete or FRP, which is designed by stiffness considerations and by proper connections to the girders, and which, if of concrete, is accompanied by a bottom grid for concrete crack control; or
iii) external straps, designed by stiffness considerations and by proper connections to the girders, along with a limited amount of steel or FRP reinforcement placed as a bottom grid for concrete crack control.
iv) suitably placed diaphragms between girders provided they are properly connected.
It is noted that inherent arching action cannot be applied to barrier walls, and top reinforcement in cantilever deck overhangs

(b) It has been demonstrated that inherent arching action is of benefit when designing for fatigue, and it is therefore recommended that, with the help of research on full-scale models and/or prototypes, one or more methods should be developed for designing deck slabs for fatigue 

(c) That new provisions should be adopted into codes of practice to reflect the enhanced state of design knowledge relating to the use of FRP in concrete deck slabs

[Examples of codes of practice that can be referenced are ACI 440, ACI ITG-3-04 and CHBCD]

Baidar Bakht, Canada, JMBT Structures Research
Nemkumar Banthia, Canada, University of British Columbia
Brahim Benmokrane, Canada, Université de Sherbrooke
Dave Bowen, Canada, Wardrop Engineering
Peter Brett, Canada, KRM Consulting Ltd.
J.J. Roger Cheng, University of Alberta
Sam Donachuk, Canada, Manitoba Transportation and Government Services
Ruth Eden, Canada, Manitoba Floodway Authority
Rick Haldane-Wilsone, Canada, Wardrop Engineering
Hisham Ibrahim, Canada, Buckland and Taylor Ltd.
Chad Klowak, Canada, ISIS Canada
Venkatash Kodur, Canada, National Research Council
Travis Konda, USA, Iowa State University
Ralston MacDonnell, Canada, MacDonnell Group
Lloyd McGinnis, Canada, ISIS Canada
Kenneth Neale, Canada, Université de Sherbrooke
Al Nelson, Canada, Manitoba Transportation and Government Services
John Newhook, Canada, Dalhousie University
Michael Oliva, USA, University of Wisconsin
Sital Rihal, Canada, Dillon Consulting
Walter Saltzberg, Canada, ISIS Canada
Derek Tardif, Canada, Université de Sherbrooke
Terry Wipf, USA, Iowa State University