The primary objective of this project is to develop a new family of prestressed concrete girders to
be used in bridge construction. With the advances in concrete constituent materials, mixture
designs, and the wealth of knowledge generated over the last five decades the structural
engineers are now in a position to revisit the standard prestressed concrete beam sections used
over the last five decades. Through the use of higher strength materials and better optimized
geometries more efficient sections will be developed during the course of this project. To
improve constructability and durability of the prestressed concrete girders the amount of bursting
steel used within the transfer region of the prestressed concrete beams will be optimized. The
capacity of the wider and thinner flanges will also be evaluated to eliminate potential
construction issues and strength deficiencies. In this project a new family of pretensioned beams
will be developed and these beams will gradually replace the older, less efficient beams that are
currently being used in bridge construction. The new, efficient and architecturally appealing
beams will span over longer distances and will help TxDOT maintain their leadership in costeffective
prestressed concrete bridge construction.