The paper reports on data acquired during 700 days of monitoring a widened
reinforced concrete under-bridge. The deck was monitored before, during and
after widening and both portions of the deck, existing and new, were instr
umented. Concrete strains were monitored by means of embedment and surface
Vibrating Wire strain Gauges (VWG).
Predicted creep, shrinkage, thermal and settlement strains were evaluated b
y means of a finite element analysis. The creep and shrinkage factors used
were those from the simplified form of the B3 model [1]. Good agreement bet
ween calculated and measured longterm strains was observed at almost all ga
uge positions.
From the analysis carried out, it was found that the stresses from the time
dependent phenomena of creep, shrinkage and temperature, combined with tho
se from the settlement of abutments, were greater than the magnitude of str
esses obtained from the design live load.