Evaluation on Bending Moment of Bridge Approach Slabs under Vehicle Load Considering Soil Settlement

The bridge approach slabs (BAS) to provide a transitional roadway between a roadway pavement and a bridge structure have not performed adequately due to various factors. The current Korean Roadway Design Guidelines treat the BAS as a simply supported beam with 70% of the span length and do not consider settlement and void development underneath the slab. To investigate the effect of soil settlements on the bending moment of BAS, a beam on elastic support (BAS-ES) was used in the present study. The parameters used in this study were span length, washout length, washout location, and soil modulus. It was shown from the parametric study that washout regions closer to the midspan exhibit maximum moment in the slab. Since voids under the BAS have typically been observed to be closer to bridge abutments, the springs from the abutment were removed to simulate settlement and void development in the model. The design moments based on AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications were compared to those of Korean Standard Specifications for Highway Bridge and Design Trucks for Highway Bridges. Even if the design moment from BAS-ES was used to incorporate the effect of the potential washout, significant savings could still be achieved compared to the current BAS design.