Modular bridge deck system including hollow extruded aluminum elements

Abstract

A bridge structure includes a light-weight, corrosion-resistant, readily installed bridge deck formed of modular deck panels spliced to each other on site. The deck panels are preferably shop-fabricated by longitudinal welding of adjacently placed multi-void elongate structural elements. Longitudinally adjacent elongate elements are spliced by providing internally disposed shear elements prior to longitudinal welding of adjacent spliced elongate elements, with the end joints between spliced elongate elements being arrayed in a staggered manner. A safety rail system is mounted to run alongside and above outer edges of the finished bridge deck mounted to a system of support girders. In one aspect of the invention, the bridge deck is very securely mounted to a support girder by flowing an initially fluid uncured medium into the voids of a structural element and, via holes formed into a bottom of that structural element, contiguously into a space defined by a bottom surface of the deck and a top surface of the girder. In this aspect, studs are welded to the top surface of the girder and extend through the holes into the voids, so that when the medium is cured-in-place it serves to bond the structural element to the girder. The cured medium inside the void facilitates transfer of shear and bending-related forces to the girder.