Construction and Building Materials 38 (2013) 931940

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Performance evaluation of dry and epoxy jointed segmental prestressed box

girders under monotonic and cyclic loading
S. Saibabu , V. Srinivas, Saptarshi Sasmal, N. Lakshmanan, Nagesh R. Iyer
CSIR, Structural Engineering Research Centre, CSIR Campus, Taramani, Chennai 600 013, India

h i g h l i g h t s
" Investigation on a scaled model of precast post-tensioned box-girder bridge deck.
" Performance of epoxy and dry jointed segmental box girder under monotonic loading.
" Performance of segmental box girders under cyclic loading.
" Flexural strength of dry jointed specimen is less than the epoxy segmental girder.
" Studying the role of type of joint on overall performance of the segmental girder.

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 2 May 2012
Received in revised form 30 August 2012
Accepted 21 September 2012
Available online 3 November 2012
Keywords:
Segmental box girder
Prestress
Scaled model
Cyclic load
Performance evaluation
Epoxy joint, Dry joint
Epoxy-sand mortar mix
Binders and llers

a b s t r a c t
A large number of post-tensioned prestressed concrete segmental bridges are being constructed worldwide. Use of different materials and shear keys will have varying effects on the performance of segmental
girders even during the service load. The type of joints, quality of joint, degree of mechanical actions and
the joint materials will contribute to the variation in the behaviour of the segmental girders. Hence, the
need for investigation on the epoxy jointed segmental box girder and dry jointed segmental box girder
becomes necessary. This paper presents the experimental investigations carried out in laboratory environment on a scaled model of a simply supported precast post-tensioned box-girder bridge deck that
is cast using segmental construction method. Performance of box-girders with dry and epoxy joints is
evaluated under static and cyclic loading. It is observed from the results that the exural strength of
dry jointed specimen is less than the epoxy joint due to high concentration of rotation and deection
at individual joints of segmental girder. Upto design load, segmental box girder specimen with dry and
epoxy joints behaved like monolithic beam. However, it is found from the study that rst joint opening
load of the dry jointed specimen is 27% less than the epoxy jointed specimen due to lack of resistance to
tension between the joints. Due to high concentration of rotation and deection at individual joints in the
dry jointed specimen, the maximum load and failure load are 8.6% and 16.7% less than that of the epoxy
jointed specimen. The study will help in understanding the role of type of joint and the material used on
the performance of the segmental bridges.
2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Segmental construction for bridges is a concept in which
the superstructure is built in segments. The segments can be
cast-in situ or precast depending upon the situation. The conception, development, and worldwide acceptance of segmental construction in the eld of prestressed concrete segmental bridges
represent one of the most interesting, and important achieve-

Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 44 22549181; fax: +91 44 22541508.

E-mail addresses: ssb@serc.res.in (S. Saibabu), srinivas@serc.res.in (V. Srinivas),
saptarshi@serc.res.in (S. Sasmal).
0950-0618/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2012.09.068

ments in civil engineering. Segmental bridges are recognized as

a solution to many bridge problems with superior durability,
low life cycle costs and quality control readily achieved. Segmental bridges are favourable alternatives for long spans and for
construction in areas where minimal disruption of the environment is required.
In segmental construction, required quantities of precast units
(or segments) are manufactured under controlled factory conditions and then transported with conventional carriers to the construction site. At the site, the segments are lifted into place on
the superstructure, assembled and then tied together using posttensioning in the sequential order as designed. The overall stiffness
of the girder becomes less and less by the attachment of number of
segments continuously [1].

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S. Saibabu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 38 (2013) 931940

Studies on the post-cracking behaviour of box-girder bridges

were started in the seventies. Limited numbers of investigations
were carried out for understanding of the structural behaviour of
segmental girder, especially under cracking and under ultimate
load conditions [27]. Segmental girders are generally more susceptible to cyclic load. These repetitive loads increases stresses in
steel and concrete which can create fatigue damage in the respective materials, reduce bond strength between joints, and lead to
substantial increase in crack widths and deections [8].
The segmental joints can be constructed and erected either by
using an epoxy layer between the segments or in a dry condition.
Segmental concrete bridges with external prestressing and dry
joints are associated with a span-by-span construction process that
is thought to be the fastest of its type. Generally, it is not essential
to apply any epoxy resin between the joint faces of the segments,
but in many cases it is adopted so. It is precisely the subject matter
of the present work to study the performance of externally prestressed segmental bridges with epoxy resin joints and with resin-free dry joints subjected to static and cyclic loading. In the
present study, experimental investigations were carried out for
the purpose to provide a better understanding on the behaviour
of dry and epoxy joints in segmentally constructed precast posttensioned bridge girders.
2. Overview on segmental bridge construction
In segmental bridge construction, the overall behaviour is different from that of monolithically constructed bridges specically
with respect to deformation aspects both in the pre-cracking and
in the post-cracking phase. Behaviour of segmentally erected box
girders is more complicated than that of monolithically constructed girders because of preformed cracks at the joints for the
full cross section starting from the zero load stage. This becomes
further complicated in the post cracking stage due to concentration
of cracks at the segmental joints and nonlinear behaviour of concrete and steel at higher level of stresses. Segmental girder with
multiple shear keys and adequate prestress across the joint will
closely reproduce the behaviour of the monolithic concrete section
of the same conguration. Very often, joints are lled with materials like epoxy, cement mortar, etc. Joints can be of various types
such as cast-in-place, dry packed, grouted or match cast [9,10].
Construction of precast segmental girders with dry joints is
common and popular due to its simplicity in construction. Since,
there is no bonding agent to provide structural continuity; no tensile stress can be transferred across the joint. Therefore, segments
are directly contacted without any ller maternal. Flexural design
of dry jointed segmental girder is based on serviceability criteria
and it is made sure that concrete at the bottom most bre of the
bridge is always under compression. All joints in the girders are designed for shear loads as that is followed for any section in monolithic constructions. Shear keys and its friction between the joint
surfaces provides resistance to the applied shear load. Though
the performance of the dry joints in segmental construction is
highly inuenced by environmental factors, dry joints are still
opted in many occasions because the technique does not need
the usage of epoxy and temporary prestress; moreover it reduces
the time and cost of the construction as well. On the other hand,
though cost intensive, epoxy jointed bridge girders are preferred
in many occasions due to its better structural conguration, durability and performance point of view.
2.1. Epoxy jointed segmental box girder (EJSBG)
In EJSBG, epoxy resin is used for joining the precast segments.
Thickness of epoxy joint varies from 1.0 mm to 3.0 mm. In the li-

quid state, the epoxy acts simultaneously as a lubricant, which

facilitates easy joining the segments. In the cured state, the epoxy
functions as a sealer to protect the post-tensioning tendons, and
transmits shear forces. The adhesive strength of the epoxy can be
assumed to be greater than the ultimate strength of the concrete.
Based on the experimental investigations on segmental concrete girders with bonded tendon as reported by Rabbat and
Sowlat [11], it was observed that the girders failed in a exural
mode under cyclic load where simultaneously concrete crushed
in the compression zone and strands fractured in the tensile zone.
Buyukozturk and Bakhoum [12] carried out tests to assess the
shear strength and deformation behaviour of precast segmental
bridge joints which includes at and keyed joints, without epoxy
with the required level of prestressing, and with the epoxy. It
was found that the strength of joints with epoxy is consistently
higher than that of dry joints and the failure of the joints with
epoxy was found to be very sudden and brittle. Zhou et al. [13]
studied the shear capacity of segmental joints which are at, single
and multiple-keyed, with and without epoxy. It was observed that
the stress level increases as conning pressure is increased and
shear strength of epoxy joint is consistently higher than dry joints.
Failure in the joint with epoxy was more brittle than dry joints. The
average shear strength for a key in multiple-keyed dry joints was
always found to be less than those in single-keyed dry joints due
to imperfections in tting of keys. Issa and Abdalla [14] examined
the shear capacity of epoxy-jointed single keys using cold-weather
and hot-weather epoxy types. It was observed that the failure
mode of all shear-key specimens is fracture of concrete along the
joint with shearing of the key. The hot-weather epoxy specimens
showed better shear capacity in comparison to the cold-weather
epoxy specimens. It was also concluded that implementing AASHTO procedures result in conservative estimates of the shear
strength of the single keyed joint since it neglects the contribution
of the epoxy and underestimates the strength of the key itself.
Megally et al. [15,16] conducted large-scale experimental investigations to study the seismic performance of joints of segmental
bridge superstructures. It was observed that opening of an epoxy
bonded joint occurs due to cracking of the concrete cover adjacent
to the joint rather than opening of the epoxy joint.
2.2. Dry jointed segmental box girder (DJSBG)
Hewson [17] outlined the design and construction aspects associated with dry-jointed bridge decks including the advantages and
disadvantages encountered in the construction. The exural and
shear strength of dry joint was observed to be less than the epoxy
joint due to high concentration of rotation and deection at individual joints of segmental girder. Takebayashi et al. [18] conducted
a full-scale destructive test of a precast segmental box girder
bridge to investigate the behaviour of precast segmental box girder
bridges with dry joints and external tendons. Turmo et al. [19]
studied the behaviour of segmental bridges with dry joints of concrete panels with and without steel bres under shear, at service
and ultimate limit states with different levels of prestressing. The
tests showed that, even though all the keys of the panel are profusely cracked, the joint was still capable of transmitting load. Also,
from tests on the panels, it was concluded that the use of steel bre
reinforced concrete (SFRC) does not increase the shear capacity of
the panel joints. Algora et al. [20] presented an experimental
investigation of the structural behaviour of dry jointed externally
prestressed segmental bridge beams under combined stresses, i.e.
bending, shear and torsional stresses. From the experimental
investigations, it was found that the presence of torsion in beams
reduces the vertical load and vertical deection at the onset of nonlinearity, failure load and further, it would alter the failure mechanism. Nonlinear nite element analysis with joints having multiple

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S. Saibabu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 38 (2013) 931940

shear keys, different geometries and material properties were conducted by Romback [21], Romback and Abendeh [22] to propose
more realistic design models for the joints.
It was observed from the earlier studies that the use of different
materials and keys will have varying effects on the behaviour of
segmental girders even during the service load. The type of joints
and the joint materials will contribute to the variation in the
behaviour of the segmental girders. However, investigation on
the performance evaluation of the segmental box girder bridges
using epoxy- and dry-jointed segmental box girder subjected to
cyclic loading is very limited and discrete. Further, the discussion
on important structural behaviour parameters such as strength
and stiffness degradation, stress development in tendon and crushing and cracking strain in critical regions under different displacement limits are extremely limited. In view of this, experimental
investigations on performance evaluation of joints in a scaled model of segmentally constructed prestressed box girder bridge has
been carried out in the present study. Both the types of joint as
mentioned above are studied in detail under monotonic and cyclic
loading. Details of test specimens, instrumentation setup and test
procedure are described followed by the responses such as deection, strain, strength, and energy dissipation. under monotonic and
cyclic loading.

3.1.1. General dimensions and characteristics

The test specimens have an overall dimension of 5000 mm length and 500 mm
depth. Geometric details of segments of test specimen and shear key details are
shown Fig. 2. It consists of 4 numbers of 750 mm long by 500 mm deep precast
box mid segments (S2, S3, S4, and S5) with two end segments of 1000 mm length
(S1, and S6). The end segments consist of a solid portion of 500 mm and box portion
of 500 mm length. The thickness of top ange, bottom ange and the web is 75 mm.
The top and bottom width of each segment is 1080 mm and 600 mm, respectively.
The box segment consists of inclined webs with two trapezoidal shape shear keys
in each web Fig. 2b. The depth and width of each key is 100 mm and 50 mm respectively. The mid-block segments are designed for self weight and impact loads that
may developed during shifting from site to laboratory. The reinforcement details
are shown in Fig. 3. PVC pipe of 40 mm diameter was kept at 140 mm from bottom
and at centre of end block for inserting post-tensioning bar.
3.1.2. Materials composition and properties
The properties of constituent materials were characterized and the mix proportion of 1:1.38:2.74 (cement: ne aggregate: coarse aggregate) with water/cement
ratio of 0.45 for M45 grade concrete was arrived after trial mixes. The average compressive strength value of the trial mix is 36.92 MPa and 50.4 MPa after 7 days and
28 days respectively. Similarly, average split tensile strength of 100 mm diameter
and 200 mm height cylinders after 7 days and 28 days is 2.37 MPa and 4.18 MPa
respectively.
3.1.3. Specimen construction
The segments were cast with match casting method. For EJSBG, a layer of
epoxy-sand mortar mix, about 23 mm thick, was applied on the mating surfaces
segment. The epoxy mortar consisting of binder and ller is used to join the segments. The binder had Araldite GY257 and Aradur 140 at ratio of 1:0.5. Quartz sand
was used as ller. The epoxy mortar had a binder-to-ller ratio of 1:2.5. It has specic gravity of 2.0. Compressive strength of the epoxy mortar varies from 80 to
100 MPa. Temporary external compression of about 0.28 MPa was applied though
two jacks operating simultaneously on the web of segment until mortar oozed
out along the perimeter. The compressive force was kept for 24 h for curing of
epoxy. This process was followed up to assembling of the segment. In the DJSBG,
the segments are dry jointed by pushing the segments with hydraulic jack simultaneously until the gap closed between the segments.
After assembling all the segments in order, designed prestressing force of
780 kN was applied with central hole prestressing jack to a single high strength
steel rod of 36 mm diameter which is inserted through the hole provided in the segments at constant eccentricity of 140 mm as shown in Fig. 4. Stresses developed at
top and bottom of box girder after transfer of prestress is observed to be 0.96 MPa
and 9.18 MPa respectively.

3. Experimental investigation on scaled model of a precast post-tensioned

segmental bridge deck
A typical segmental prototype bridge superstructure of 30 m span is designed
with box shape segments using external tendons as shown in Fig. 1. The tendons
are trapezoidal proled with 10 m of straight tendon length at centre of span. It
was designed for span by span construction method. The critical location of the prototype structure for positive bending under dead loads and live loads is found to be
approximately at mid span. The test specimen for the present experimental investigation is a scaled model of the central middle third of prototype span in which the
tendons are horizontal. The scaling of the model is done in such a way that the concrete stresses of the model are nearly equal to the stresses of prototype structure at
transfer and at service stage.

3.1. Details of test specimen

3.2. Instrumentation setup

Two test specimens have been prepared, one each for epoxy jointed segmental
box girder and dry jointed segmental box girder. In the scaled bridge, six segments
were joined together by using a straight prestress tendon. The details of the specimen and the material properties are discussed in the following sections.

The girder was placed in simply supported condition where roller support at
one end and hinge support at other ends were used and the loading was arranged
for four-point bending condition as shown in Fig. 5. MTS actuator of 500 kN capacity
was xed on a reaction frame of 2000 kN capacity which was anchored to the strong

External Tendons

Precast Segments of
1.6 m length

10500

Test Zone

10500

10000
31000

Elevation
10800

250 thick flange

1800

250 thick flange

350 thick
web
6000

cross section
Fig. 1. Geometric details of prototype girder. Note: All dimensions are in mm.

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S. Saibabu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 38 (2013) 931940

Distribution
Beam

Test specimen
(Semental box girder)

Actuator
750

1000

200

S2

S1

500

S4

S3

J1

J2

S5

J3

J4

J5

CL

S6

140

Hinge

Prestress
tedon

2250
Floor level

Pedestal

Test Floor
4500
5000
All dimensions are in mm

Dial gauge

LVDT

(a) Elevation of test set up

50

50

750

75

75
500

PVC duct of 50mm dia

500
150 125

75

75
500

Elevation of mid segment

250

250

Elevation of end segment

1080
684
50

50

60
25

75
68

68

Shear
Key

500

75

50

425

25
50

110

25
50

25

25
120

Shear
Keys

90

50
75

120

25

486.5

Shear
Keys

50

75

600

Cross section of segment

60

Elevation of shear keys

(b) Sectional details of a segments

Fig. 2. Details of the scaled model of segmental box girder.

test oor. To measure concrete deformation at maximum bending moment location, LVDTs were placed horizontally at the top of joints. To measure crack width

1080
{a} 6mm dia @ 65mm c/c

75
{b} 6mm dia @ 74mm c/c
(c} 6mm dia @ 130 mm c/c
{d} 6mm dia @ 90 mm c/c

75
600
Fig. 3. Reinforcement details of mid segment.

or joint opening at bottom of joints, LVDTs were placed horizontally at the bottom
of joints. Deections were monitored with dial gauges of 50 mm measuring capacity under the loading points and at mid span. The distance between the loading
points is 2250 mm. To measure vertical slip of the segmental joint in the shear zone,
two dial gauges were placed on either of side of the joint. The least count of the dial
gauges is 0.01 mm. The instrumentation details can be seen in Fig. 2a.
3.3. Static and cyclic load test
The purpose of the static load test is to study the elastic behaviour of the specimen up to service load before starting the cyclic load test. Loading was applied by
the actuator at the centre of distributor beam. The applied load is gradually increased up to rst cracking load at an increment of 22.5 kN. Both deections and
strains are measured during the static test.
Segmental girders are generally susceptible to cyclic load due to trafc. This
repetitive loading and unloading causes changes in stresses and creates fatigue
damage in the steel and concrete materials; reduces bond properties at the interface between joints, and lead to substantial increase in crack widths and deections. Segmental girders subjected to cyclic loading may suffer from excessive

S. Saibabu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 38 (2013) 931940

935

cracking and deections. Experimental investigations on the behaviour of segmental girders subjected to repeated loading have shown that the deection and crack
width of segmental concrete girders increase with the number of load repetitions.
The cyclic loading is applied in deection control actuator at the rate of 1 mm per
minute. The upper and lower limits were kept constant during each cyclic loading.
The deection limits are chosen to produce tensiontension cyclic stresses in the
unbonded strand at the tension zone and compressioncompression repetitive
stresses in the concrete at the compressive zone. One set of loading and unloading
is dened as one cycle. The specimens are subjected to cyclic load after the application of static loading up to rst cracking stage. A set of four loading cycles are
conducted at each deection increment of 4.0 mm, until specimen reached to the
failure state. Applied load corresponding to each induced deection is measured.

4. Observations on the response of EJSBG and DJSBG

The responses are measured during static and cyclic loading for
the deections at mid and one-fourth spans as well as strains at the
top and bottom of girder at each joint. The observed responses are
discussed below.
4.1. Response under static loading
For EJSBG, rst crack is noticed at a load of 405 kN, in the exure
zone at bottom of joints J2 and J4. The cracks are developed due to
exceeding of the exural tensile strength of specimen compared to
the tensile strength of epoxy mortar after decompressed. Opening
of the joints occurred in the concrete adjacent to the epoxy layer
between the bonded precast segments, rather than in the epoxy
layer itself. The measured crack width at rst crack location is
0.001 mm. No cracks are observed at other places of test specimen.
The measured deection was recovered fully after unloading. The
cracks are completely closed after unloading. No residual deection and strains are recorded which shows that the specimen is
in the elastic stress range. Based on the elastic theory, deection
of 4 mm is computed under the load of 405 kN which is well corroborated with the results obtained from the experiment (as
shown in Fig. 6). Loaddeection curve at mid-span is linear with
increasing applied load up to the designed load of 360 kN. Measured deection at different span lengths is shown in Fig. 7a. It is
clear from the gure that under higher deection, local deformation (in central segment) has also taken place which cannot be seen
in lower deection magnitudes.
Static load test on the DJSBG is conducted similar to that used
for the EJSBG. No sign of distress is observed in the test specimen
up to the service load of 286.5 kN. First joint opening had occurred
at bottom of J2 in constant bending zone at 296 kN load and it is
closed after unloading. The calculated rst cracking load is in good
agreement with the experimental value (as shown in Fig. 6). The
measured deection is fully recovered and cracks are completely
closed after unloading. No cracks are observed at other places of
test specimen. Fig. 7b shows the deection prole of dry jointed

Fig. 5. Experimental test setup.

specimen under static load. The gure depicts that unlike the specimen with epoxy joint, under various deection magnitudes,
deection prole is nonuniform and this observation is more predominant in central segment. Further, it is also found that dry
jointed specimen shows un-symmetric deection prole whereas
the epoxy jointed specimen provides a smooth and uniform deection prole till failure. Deections envelop of epoxy and dry jointed
specimens under static load test is compared in Fig. 7c. It is worth
mentioning that, both at quarter and mid span, deection under a
given load level is always more in dry jointed specimen than that
observed in epoxy jointed specimen. As stated earlier, variation
of deection at two quarter spans is considerably less in case of
epoxy jointed specimen. From Fig. 7c, it is evident that rate of stiffness degradation with damage (in form of cracks or opening up of
joints) is much faster than that noted in epoxy jointed specimen.
Further, from the response of the specimens under static load, it
is to note that (i) up to design load, segmental box girder specimen
with dry and epoxy joints behaved like monolithic beam, and (ii)
rst joint opening load of the dry jointed specimen is 27% less than
that of the epoxy jointed specimen due to lack of resistance to tension between the joints.

4.2. Response under cyclic loading

Crack opening at different deection levels are shown for EJSBG
in Fig. 8a and b. Fig. 9a shows the loaddeection hysteresis at mid
span. From the gure, a drastic loss of stiffness can be found be-

Fig. 4. Application of external prestress (a) through central hole jack and (b) measurement of external prestress.

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S. Saibabu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 38 (2013) 931940

500
450
400

Load (kN)

350
300
250
200
150
Theoritical

100

Experimental

50
0

10

12

14

Deflection (mm)
Fig. 6. Comparison of theoretical and experimental loaddeection behaviour.

yond the displacement level of 10 mm. The cyclic deection proles on EJSBG are shown in Fig. 9b. It is clear that after the crack
opening at the joints, nonlinearity in the deection response is distinct. Joint opening at joint J2 at 12 mm deection and the joint at
failure load for DJSBG is shown in Fig. 10a and b respectively. Relation between the applied loads to each cyclic deection at mid
span of DJSBG is shown in Fig. 11a. It is important to note that
the stiffness degradation due to cyclic load is much more than that
observed from EJSBG. However, stiffness of the structure at lower
deection range is more than EJSBG as evident from the initial stiff

nature of loaddeection behaviour. Deection envelop of DJSBG

under cyclic loading is shown in Fig. 11b. It is important to note
that the EJSBG is susceptible to nonlinear behaviour under higher
deection level but concentrated to a local region at middle of
the span whereas the deection prole of DJSBG shows that the
nonlinearity is not conned to middle zone, rather it is uniformly
distributed. Comparison of loaddeection behaviour of dry- and
epoxy-jointed specimens at maximum displacement level for each
load cycle is presented in Fig. 12. It can be stated that the load carrying capacity under different levels of deection is less in DJSBG
as that been found from EJSBG. It can also been inferred that the
ductility offered by the whole system (area under the curve) is considerably more in case of EJSBG than that obtained from DJSBG. Energy dissipation (as shown in Fig. 13a) and strength envelop (as
shown in Fig. 13b) of the box girder with epoxy and dry joint are
also studied. Energy dissipation capacity of the specimens are calculated by integrating the entire area in the loaddisplacement
curve for each displacement cycle. Applied load from the actuator
required to produce the deection in each cycle is assigned as the
strength of the specimen. Though, after a large deection, both the
joints showed (Fig. 13a) the similar magnitude of energy dissipation, at the initial level (up to a deection level of 25 mm) dry
jointed specimen showed considerably more energy dissipation
in comparison to that obtained from the epoxy jointed bridge.
The study on energy dissipation versus deection would provide
the information on the resilience of the structure. It is evident that
a structure with high energy dissipation capacity would indirectly
reect the inherent ductility in the structural system. Further, the
strength degradation rate (calculated as the reduction in strength
in two consecutive cycles) with higher magnitude of deection is

Span (mm)
0
0
0.5

Span (mm)

500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500

0
0

1
2
3

0.5

4
7

Deflection (mm)

Deflection (mm)

1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5

500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500

9
10
12 11
13
14
16

15

17
18

1
2
3
4
5

1.5

6
7

2.5

9
10

11
12

3.5
13

4.5

4.5

(a) Epoxy jointed specimen (EJSBG)

(b) Dry jointed specimen (DJSBG)

Load (kN)

45

90

135

180

225

270

315

360

405

450

Deflection (mm)

1
2
3
At 1/4th from Left (EJSBG)

At 1/4th from Left (DJSBG)

At Mid (EJSBG)

At Mid (DJSBG)
At 1/4th from Right (EJSBG)
At 1/4th from Right (DJSBG)

(c) Comparison of load-deflection

Fig. 7. Deection behaviour of epoxy and dry jointed specimens under static load test. [Note: Marks on deection proles are in 22.5 kN increment in each step starting with
22.5 in 1.]

S. Saibabu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 38 (2013) 931940

(a) At J3 at 18mm deflection

937

(b) At J3 at 24mm deflection

Fig. 8. Crack opening for EJSBG.

study underscores that the magnitude of improvement due to

epoxy jointed segments is not considerable.

500
3

450

4
5

400

Load (kN)

350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Deflection (mm)

(a) Load- deflections at mid span

Span (mm)
0

500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500

Deflection (mm)

1
2

10

15

4
5

20
25

6
7
8

30

35

10
11

40
45

(b) Deflection profiles of EJSBG

under cyclic loading
Fig. 9. Performance of EJSBG under deection. [Note: Marks on deection proles
are in 4 mm increment in each step starting with 4 mm in 1.]

observed to be higher in dry jointed specimen. It is found that (as

shown in Fig. 13a and b), both the joints perform almost similar
under higher displacement demand (with opening in joints)
whereas in lower levels of displacement, dry jointed girder showed
a considerable increase in energy dissipation compared to epoxy
jointed girder. Since, the dry joint is prone to open even at medium
displacement levels, it provides more energy release due to rotation. Further, strength envelop shows that epoxy jointed bridge
provides more strength than the dry jointed bridge under any level
of displacement. It is easy to understand that the epoxy does also
provide extra bonding strength to the segments. But, the present

4.2.1. Stress, strain and crack width under cyclic load

Development of tendon stress under different deection level is
shown in Fig. 14a. The stress in the bar is increased by 16.62% from
the initial stress due to increase in deection up to 12 mm. It is
important to note that with further increase in deection (from
12 mm to 47 mm), stress in tendon is increased by only 7% which
clearly depicts that the structural integrity (load transfer mechanism between tendon and concrete) is deteriorated. The stress in
the bar increases due to compression in concrete. Stress in the
bar decreases further due to crushing of concrete and reduction
in the load carrying capacity. Total increase in stress is 54% of reserve stress available in the bar. The increase in concrete compressive strains at top of mid joint with increase in deection is shown
in Fig. 13b. It is found that compressive strain developed in concrete due to bending increases linearly, up to 0.0027 strain which
corresponds to deection of 18 mm. Under higher deection demand, non-linear in the straindeection behaviour is found due
to decrease in load carrying capacity of girder and starting of the
crushing of concrete. Compressive strain of 0.0136 is measured
at failure load.
Crack widths (joint openings) which are computed from the
measured deformations at the joints are presented in Tables 1
and 2 for EJSBG and DJSBG respectively. It is observed from the tables that crack width increases with the increase in the deection
of beam. First crack occurred at bottom of joints which are located
near to the loading points. Initial depth of crack is 75 mm and it is
equal to the thickness of bottom ange. All the cracks are closed
after unloading due to effect of prestressing until the maximum
load of girder. Crack widths varied from 0.10 mm to 19.0 mm
and its length increased from 75 mm to up to depth of girder i.e.
500 mm. From the tables, it is observed that, new cracks are
formed at other joints after decrease in maximum load of girder
and bending of the specimen. The joint J4 in EJSBG and joint J2 in
DJSBG are widened more than the other joints and propagated into
the compression zone.
4.2.2. Comparative performance of the joints under cyclic load
As the segmental girder had no reinforcement across the joint,
the tensile stresses are concentrated along the prestressing steel
in the constant bending moment zone rather than distributed
through the total length of the girder. The crushing of the concrete
is considered as a total collapse of structure for the simply supported beam. Failure of the specimen with epoxy joint (EJSBG) under cyclic loading is found to be at 388 kN when the concrete is

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S. Saibabu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 38 (2013) 931940

(a) Joint opening at J2 at 12mm

(b) Joint opening at J2 at 24mm

Fig. 10. Crack opening for DJSBG.

450
4

400

8
9

350

10

11

Load (kN)

300

250
200
150
100
50
0
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Deflection (mm)

(a) Load- deflections at mid span

Fig. 12. Loaddeection behaviour of dry and epoxy jointed specimens at maximum displacement level for each load cycle.

Span (mm)
0

500

Deflection (mm)

1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500

Deflection (mm)

10

15

4
5

20
6

25
30

7
8

35

40

10

45

Energy dissipation (kNmm)

(b) Deflection profiles of DJSBG

under cyclic loading

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

40

45

50

0
200
400
600
800
1000
For Epoxy Jointed Bridge

1200

For Dry Jointed Bridge

1400
1600

(a) Energy dissipation

Deflection (mm)

Fig. 11. Performance of DJSBG under deection.

10

15

20

25

30

35

0
50
100

Strength (kN)

crushed at the extreme compression zone above the segmental

joint followed by large deection and opening segmental joint
(Fig. 8). The maximum load and maximum deection is found to
be more than 1.5 times that at service load. The deection and
the maximum crack width measured on the EJSBG specimen under
repeated loading are found to increase with the number of load cycles. The width of crack at joints is found to be varied from 0.1 mm
to 19 mm and its depth also varied from 75 mm to 500 mm. Stress
in the unbonded tendon is also increased up to 115 MPa. The cyclic
load at the deections varies from 4 mm to 47 mm and the applied
load varies from 83% to 85% of maximum cyclic load. It shows that
the girder had reserve strength of above 83% of the maximum load

For Epoxy Jointed Bridge

For Dry Jointed Bridge

150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500

(b) Strength degradation

Fig. 13. Cyclic response of the segmental bridge with dry and epoxy joints.

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S. Saibabu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 38 (2013) 931940

Deflection (mm)
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Stress in tenson (MPa)

600
For Epoxy Jointed Bridge

650

For Dry Jointed Bridge

700
750
800
850
900

(a) Deflection vs stress in tendon

Compressive strain at top (x10-2)

Deflection (mm)
0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

0
For Epoxy Jointed Bridge

0.2

For Dry Jointed Bridge

0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6

(b) Deflection vs strain at top of joint

Fig. 14. Comparison of stress and strain variation of epoxy and dry jointed
specimens.

after subjected to the cyclic deection. The applied load at the

deections increases from 4 mm to 12 mm, varies from 83% to
100% of the maximum load of the specimen. Further, the applied
load decreases from 98% to 85% of the maximum load as the deections increases from 12 mm to 47 mm which shows that the girder
had always reserve strength of above 83% of the maximum load
after subjected to the cyclic deection.
For the specimen with dry joint (DJSBG), rst joint (J2) which
was opened during static test is reopened at the same load and
same deection of cyclic load. It was completely closed after
unloading. During cyclic displacement loading, joints at other locations are also opened. All opening are propagated vertical into the
compression zone and closed after unloading. Deection increased
from 4 mm to 16 mm and corresponding load is also increased by
20% which shows girder had sufcient reserve strength after cracking. From 16 mm deection onwards up to failure (47 mm), corresponding loads were decreased by 15%. This indicates a decrease in
the rigidity and stiffness of the girder while increasing deections
and with the number of load repetitions. The segment to segment
joints in the constant bending moment zone were subjected to signicant repeated openings and closure under cyclic loading without failure up to the ultimate load. Specimen failed due to
crushing of top ange above the segmental joint J2 in the constant
bending moment zone. The failure load is found to be 323 kN at
47 mm cyclic deection. The cracking load and ultimate load is
found to be 1.03 times and 1.46 times the design load in the dry
jointed segmental beam. Ratio of ultimate load to cracking load
is 1.41. The applied load at the deections increases from 4 mm
to 16 mm, varies from 71% to 100% of the maximum load of the
specimen. Further, the applied load decreases from 98% to 77% of
the maximum load as the deections increases from 16 mm to

Table 1
Showing crack width and depth of EJSBG.
Def. (mm)

4
8
12
18
24
31
37
43
47

Load (kN)

383
431
459
448
424
416
413
402
388

Joint-1 J1

Crack at J2

Crack at J3

Crack at J4

Crack at J5

Dp (mm)

Wi (mm)

Dp (mm)

Wi (mm)

Dp (mm)

Wi (mm)

Dp (mm)

Wi (mm)

Dp (mm)

Wi (mm)

0
0
0
150
300
425
425
425
425

0
0
0
0.134
0.256
0.279
0.323
0.379
0.404

75
75
150
150
300
300
300
300
300

0.135
0.173
0.193
0.193
0.632
0.880
3.033
4.546
7.289

0
0
0
300
425
425
425
500
500

0.436
0.590
0.925
1.764
2.685
4.258
6.756
11.253
18.469

75
75
150
150
300
300
300
300
300

0.135
0.173
0.193
0.193
0.734
0.977
3.650
4.678
8.267

0
0
0
150
300
425
425
425
425

0
0
0
0.166
0.198
0.266
0.365
0.398
0.540

Depth of crack (Dp), and width of crack (Wi) at each cyclic load at the Joint-1 (J1), Joint-2 (J2), Joint-3 (J3), Joint-4 (J4), and Joint-5 (J5) between segments S1S2, S2S3, S3S4,
S4S5, and S5S6 respectively.

Table 2
Showing crack width and depth of DJSBG.
Def. (mm)

4
8
12
18
24
28
32
36
40

Load (kN)

294
339
376
417
408
392
365
341
323

Crack at J1

Crack at J2

Crack at J3

Crack at J4

Crack at J5

Dp (mm)

Wi (mm)

Dp (mm)

Wi (mm)

Dp (mm)

Wi (mm)

Dp (mm)

Wi (mm)

Dp (mm)

Wi (mm)

0
0
0
150
300
425
425
425
425

0
0
0
0.134
0.256
0.279
0.323
0.379
0.404

75
75
150
150
300
300
300
300
300

0.100
0.173
0.193
0.193
0.632
0.880
1.033
6.546
10.289

0
0
0
300
425
425
425
500
500

0
0
0.110
0.153
0.625
2.842
4.423
10.251
15.022

75
75
150
150
300
300
300
300
300

0.135
0.173
0.193
0.193
0.734
0.977
3.650
4.678
8.267

0
0
0
150
300
425
425
425
425

0
0
0
0.166
0.198
0.266
0.365
0.398
0.540

Depth of crack (Dp), and width of crack (Wi) at each cyclic load at the Joint-1 (J1), Joint-2 (J2), Joint-3 (J3), Joint-4 (J4), and Joint-5 (J5) between segments S1S2, S2S3, S3S4,
S4S5, and S5S6 respectively.

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S. Saibabu et al. / Construction and Building Materials 38 (2013) 931940

44 mm. It shows that the girder had always reserve strength of

about 71% of the maximum load after subjected to the cyclic
deection.
It was observed from the results that (i) the exural strength of
dry jointed specimen is less than the epoxy joint due to high concentration of rotation and deection at individual joints of segmental girder, (ii) behaviour of dry jointed specimen is similar to the
behaviour of epoxy bonded specimen at failure, (iii) due to high
concentration of rotation and deection at individual joints in
the dry jointed specimen, the maximum load and failure load are
8.6% and 16.7% less than that of the epoxy jointed specimen, (iv)
segment to segment joints undergone signicant repeated openings and closures during cyclic loading test without failure, (v) Permanent deformations of both specimens under cyclic loading are
almost equal up to the maximum load. But the deformation of
dry jointed specimen is less than epoxy jointed specimen at the
failure load, (vi) under cyclic load test, failure was initiated by
crushing of the top ange above the segmental joint in the constant
bending moment zone, after repeated loading cycles in both the
specimens, (vii) In both the specimens, the load carrying capacity
of the specimens dropped gradually with increased displacement
in the post-peak range due to decrease in the stiffness, (viii) the
shear keys did not fail up to the failure load of specimen in both
the specimens as keys were designed for ultimate load. Relative
vertical sliding between precast segments is very less, and (ix) both
the test specimens showed signicant deection and joint opening
before failure.

5. Concluding remarks
Experimental investigations were carried out on a scaled model
of precast post-tensioned concrete segmental box girder to evaluate the performance of epoxy and dry segmentsegment joints of
the girder. Two stage and match cast method was applied for casting of trapezoidal box shape precast segments. Performance of the
test specimen consisting of epoxy and dry joints were studied under static and cyclic loading. Static loading was applied to get the
rst crack, then monotonically increasing cyclic load (displacement
control) was applied to the specimens up to failure load. Both test
specimens was found to be performed well similar to the monolithic beam up to ultimate load. Repeated loading and unloading resulted in opening and closing of the joints between two segments,
which result in loss of stiffness of joint and crushing of concrete
above the joint at mid span and found that the phenomenon is
much severe in dry jointed specimens. It was observed from the
present study that the segmental box girders with epoxy joint
showed better performance than the dry jointed segmental box girder due to additional tensile strength in the joint region. Nevertheless, dry jointed bridges are preferred in some cases due to
environmental constraints or site requirements. The load- deection behaviour (under cyclic load), strength degradation, stiffness
deterioration and stress development in tendon, etc. obtained from

the experiments will be useful to the bridge designer to check the

performance of the segmental girder at different load levels.
Acknowledgements
The paper is published with the permission of the Director,
CSIR-SERC, Chennai, India. The technical support and help rendered
by Shri. R. Jayaraman, Chief Scientist (Retired) and the team of
Structural Testing Laboratory of CSIR-SERC is acknowledged.
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