Influence of traffic-induced vibrations on a rapid repairing material for bridge decks

Maintenance of bridge decks is an issue that Italy feels very strongly nowadays. High performances mortars are often used, especially during the extraordinary maintenance, in order to improve the structural performance of the decks but, the change of their mechanical properties caused by vehicular-induced vibrations has been little studied till now. For this reason, the circulation of vehicles is generally limited or interrupted during the maintenance activities, thereby increasing the costs of transport such as, for example, delays, higher emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere or increased risk of accidents etc. In this context, the aim of the present study is to provide some experimental information, deducted by an “innovative” test procedure, about the influence of the vehicular traffic vibrations on the curing of high performance mortars. To this end, the mechanical behaviour of specimens subjected to vibrations during the curing and that of specimens kept in static conditions are compared. The vibrations were applied by means a six degree of freedom hydraulic shaker and the input was made from acceleration data detected on some real bridges. Cubic, cylindrical and prismatic specimens have been used for the experimental tests. The critical analysis of the results show that the traffic induced vibrations change the mechanical characteristics of mortars analyzed.