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(serene music)
(logo whooshes)

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- [Narrator] The use of precast components

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during bridge construction is a technique

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that can speed up the construction process

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and increase worker safety.

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Texas has been prefabricating
deck panels, girders

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and bent caps for years,

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but bridge columns are
typically cast in place.

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In TxDOT Project 0-7089,

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the Texas Department of Transportation

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and Researchers with the Center
for Transportation Research

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developed design recommendations

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and standards for precast bridge columns.

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- So Texas has been
moving towards this idea

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of accelerated bridge construction
now for a few decades.

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And really the last piece of the puzzle

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for the main construction
of bridges is the column.

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- Currently in the State of Texas,

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these are cast in place elements

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and within the context of this project,

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we worked on precast concrete solutions

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for the columns in bridge substructures.

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The precast concrete shells

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to be used in column construction

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were built at a precast yard,

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shipped over to our laboratory,

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and we ended up completing
the construction

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in a total precast type of setting

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and actually tested
the structural behavior

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of those elements

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at Ferguson Structural
Engineering Laboratory.

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In understanding the behavior

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that we observed in the laboratory,

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we needed to construct
finite element models

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and try to study the
behavior of force transfer

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from bridge decks all the
way to the foundations

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in a more comprehensive manner,

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and that was also
accomplished at Ferguson Lab.

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- The key finding of this research

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was a large-scale test results

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that proves that we can
use a precast column

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in a real world scenario

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using an accelerated
bridge construction idea

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throughout the project,

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and all of that can be
precast ahead of time,

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allowing shorter construction times

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and less impact to our road users.

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- We have now precast concrete solutions

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for typical bridge columns,

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and their strength and their
overall deformation behavior

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and their projected behavior
under anticipated loads

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are no inferior to,

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and certainly superior
than the current standards

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that we have.

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And with that in place,

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implementation of the
research fund findings

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will likely to produce wonderful results

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in terms of reducing construction cost

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and certainly improving durability.

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- [Narrator] For more information

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and to find the publications
for this project,

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please visit the TxDOT Research Library

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at the link shown below.