pretensioning and thermal strains measured in a concrete composite bridge

strain and temperature measurements were made in a composite concrete bridge to study whether the longitudinal joints between in-situ and precast concrete would successfully distribute the prestressing load uniformly across the bridge section. also the aim was to determine whether the joints were adequate to stand up to the combined effects of shrinkage, creep and vehicle loading. the design was shown to behave in most respects as assumed by the designer. correlation between measured strains and estimated strains, evaluated from measured temperatures, gave confidence in the acceptance of a complex change of strain in the bridge section due to daily fluctuations of temperature.(a)