Bridge Deck Design

This PDH online course is a part of the Civil course category. The primary function of a bridge deck is to support the vehicular vertical loads and distribute these loads to the bridge superstructure. This course provides practical information regarding the decking options and design considerations for steel bridges, presenting deck types such as concrete deck slabs, metal grid decks, orthotropic steel decks, wood decks, and several others. The choice of the particular deck type to use can depend on several factors, which may include the specific application, initial cost, life cycle cost, durability, weight, or owner requirements. For the deck types discussed in the course material, a brief description of the particular deck type is given, in addition to general design and detail considerations.

This course is intended for use by civil and structural engineers, and construction professionals and others interested in learning about bridge deck design.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, you will:

• Be able to discuss advantages and disadvantages of different types of bridge decks
• Learn about concrete bridge decks, more specifically:
  • Design methods
  • Construction methodology (precast, post-tensioned etc.)
  • Construction elements (overhangs, formwork etc.)
  • Detailing consideration
• Learn about various forms of metal grid decks, such as open metal grid, filled and partially-filled metal grid and composite unfilled metal grid deck
• Learn about orthotropic steel decks
• Wood decks
• Other types of decks, such as FRP, aluminum and sandwich / composite bridge decks