Two-year deflections of the Confederation Bridge

A comprehensive research program is currently in progress to monitor and study the behavior and performance of the Confederation Bridge. Part of this program is on monitoring short- and long-term deflections to evaluate the deflection prediction techniques employed in the design of concrete structures in general and this bridge in particular. The investigation comprises measurements of parameters related to the materials used in the bridge. This paper presents some field measurements of vertical deflection as well as the results of computer analysis. Short-term deflections are measured at the time of installation of precast units and also in truck-loading tests. After completion of construction, the deflections are measured at specified intervals. The last readings reported in this paper have been taken 27 months after completion of construction. The computer program CPF (Cracked Plane Frames in prestressed concrete) is employed for analysis of the monitored part of the Confederation Bridge. The bridge is modeled as a plane frame in which the nonprestressed and prestressed steels are considered. Several analyses are performed employing the actual time-dependent concrete properties measured in the field and those calculated from the ACI Committee 209 equations and CEB-FIP Model Code. Comparisons are made between the measured and the predicted deflections. The predicted deflections are found to be in close agreement with the measured values, which indicates that the deflection prediction techniques used in design of this bridge are adequate.