Precast concrete box beams in cellular bridge decks

Particular requirements of a length of urban elevated motorway are described, which have been satisfied by the use of a bridge deck using 'top-hat' section box beams with no transverse diaphragms. The deck has proved economical and suitable for a wide range of bridges. During the development of the design of the deck, methods of analysis for the effect of concentrated loads have been investigated and the paper describes an approach based on finite element techniques and the derivation from this of a simpler technique for design ofice use, both of which provide satisfactorily accurate results