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Sponsored by ASCE Continuing Education and the Structural Engineering Institute (SEI).

INSTRUCTOR: Adam Matteo, P.E.

Course Length:  90 minutes

Purpose and Background

Deck expansion joints are the “Achilles heel” of bridges.  Built into tens of thousands of bridges nationwide to accommodate thermal movement, expansion joint seals fail with disturbing frequency.  A failed expansion joint allows water, and in many cases salt, to seep onto the superstructure and substructure elements of bridges.  The steady flow of salt-laden water causes steel superstructures and reinforcing in concrete bridge elements to corrode.  The extant corrosion caused by leaking expansion joints often leads to the need for replacement of entire bridges or bridge components (superstructures).  Indeed, the consequences of leaking expansion joints are billions of dollars in bridge repair and preservation needs.

Bridge deck expansion joints provide a permanent repair and a cost-effective elimination of a difficult maintenance problem. The practice has decades of successful implementation, yet it is rarely used as a bridge maintenance intervention.  This is due in part to an inadequate understanding of the details, materials, design and analysis procedures associated with joint elimination.  The design discussion will address how the methodologies relate to the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications.  This seminar seeks to bridge that gap in understanding and give engineers the necessary tools to confidently design joint elimination on bridge projects.

There are three options for dealing with leaking expansion joints:  allow the joint to remain in substandard condition; repair, improve or replace the joints as time and budget allow; eliminate the joints altogether.  In Virginia alone there are over one million linear feet of expansion joints. By steadily eliminating expansion joints as funding and schedules permit, the state is reducing future maintenance and replacement costs.

This seminar will provide a practical approach to eliminating bridge deck expansion joints.  Participants can expect to learn about various options for expansion joint elimination.  Details and recommendations for materials will be provided, along with an explanation of how engineers can analyze a bridge to retrofit an existing bridge.

Primary Discussion Topics

• Why eliminate joints? Costs and performance
• Details of joint elimination
• Materials for joint elimination
• Crunching the numbers – how to analyze an existing bridge
• Practical construction considerations

Learning Outcomes

• Identify the options for joint elimination
• Provide basic details/drawings for joint elimination
• Equip engineers with a basis for decision-making for joint elimination vs. maintenance
• Equip engineers with methodology for analyzing an existing bridge to determine if the expansion joints can be eliminated
• Teach engineers how to design a bridge retrofit to eliminate expansion joints
• Teach engineers which materials are best for eliminating expansion joints
• Recognize practical construction considerations, including traffic control and sequence of construction

Webinar Benefits

• Engineers will be able to analyze a bridge to determine if it is a good candidate for joint elimination
• Engineers will be able to design a bridge retrofit to eliminate joints
• Engineers will be able to perform cost estimates for joint elimination and compare to joint maintenance
• Best practices for materials will be provided

Assessment of Learning Outcomes

Students' achievement of the learning outcomes will be assessed via a short post-assessment (true-false, multiple choice and fill in the blank questions).

Intended Audience

• Bridge engineers
• City and state officials with responsibility for bridge maintenance
• Maintenance engineers
• Bridge owners

Webinar Outline

• Why eliminate joints? Costs and performance
• Do nothing
• Joint maintenance
• Joint elimination
• Traffic control
• Details of joint elimination
• Link slabs
• Deck extensions
• Materials for joint elimination
• Crunching the numbers – how to analyze and existing bridge
• Engineering principles of link slab analysis
• References
• Changing bridge articulation
• Bearings
• Practical construction considerations

How to Earn your CEUs/PDHs and Receive Your Certificate of Completion

To receive your certificate of completion, you will need to complete a short on-line post-test and receive a passing score of 70% or higher within 1 year of purchasing the course.

How do I convert CEUs to PDHs?

1.0 CEU = 10 PDHs [Example: 0.1 CEU = 1 PDH]