Abstract

Prestressed deck slabs fabricated from conventional strength concrete are frequently used in Railway bridge applications. The purpose of this research program was to assess the behaviour of precast, prestressed concrete railway deck slabs fabricated from high performance concrete (HPC). Six full scale slab specimens 3.7 m by 2.135 m, manufactured from concrete containing silica fume with compressive strengths of 80, 90 and 99 MPa, were tested to ultimate capacity. A literature review was conducted on the mechanical properties and durability of high strength-high performance concrete. In addition, a laboratory test program was designed to determine the behaviour of the prestressed concrete slabs in flexural cracking, ultimate capacity, shear, ductility and bond development length of the strand. The slabs were simply supported and a statically loaded at midspan, ⅜ span and �$1�