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Precast concrete i-beam deck with pre-stressed wire strands as reinforcing material

Precast concrete i-beam deck with pre-stressed wire strands as reinforcing material description/claims

This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Application 60/862,338, filed on Oct. 20, 2006, which is incorporated herein by reference.

1. Technical Field

This disclosure generally relates to reinforced pre-cast concrete I-beam decks, bridging and support systems that have pre-stressed steel wire strands as reinforcing material.

2. Description of the Related Art

Pre-cast concrete has many applications in the construction industry. Concrete that is precast tends to be of higher quality than concrete that is cast and cured on-site, as precasting may be done under controlled conditions. Pre-cast concrete slabs may be used in bridging and support systems, to support flooring or roofing in a building. Solid concrete slabs, or decks, used for this purpose may be heavy, making them difficult to handle or to lift up for installation on higher floors. Such decks may also exhibit poor sound and heat insulating qualities. Such slabs, or decks, may tend to crack over time and become weak or useless. Water may enter the cracks and damage any steel reinforcing material.

I-beam decks (henceforth referred to as I-decks), systems using I-decks, and methods of forming I-decks are provided. In this regard, an exemplary embodiment of a light weight pre-cast concrete I-deck with pre-stressed wire strands comprises: a soffit with a bottom and a top surface with two ends and two sides, with a diaphragm on each end of the soffit that projects above the top surface of the soffit with an inside and outside surface, a plurality of spaced apart I-beams that are substantially parallel with each other projecting above the top surface of the soffit and extending between the diaphragms on each end, with an I-beam on each side serving as a side member, with the soffit and I-beams between the diaphragms having high tension steel wire strands embedded in the concrete that have been pre-stressed before the concrete is poured and kept pre-stressed until the concrete is cured. The concrete deck may have at least one load transfer member embedded in each diaphragm and extending outside of the diaphragm for extension onto a support structure for supporting the concrete deck.

If it is desired to place a top member, such as concrete slab, on top of the deck, the diaphragms and I-beams each need to have a top surface that is substantially in the same plane with each other.

An exemplary embodiment of a bridging and support system using an I-deck comprises: a plurality of light weight pre-cast reinforced concrete decks, each with a soffit with a bottom and a top surface with two ends and two sides, with a diaphragm on each end of the soffit that projects above the top surface of the soffit with an inside and outside surface, a plurality of spaced apart I-beams that are substantially parallel with each other projecting above the top surface of the soffit and extending between the diaphragms on each end, with an I-beam on each side of the soffit serving as a side members, with the soffit and I-beams between the diaphragms having high tension steel wire strands embedded in the concrete that have been pre-stressed before the concrete is poured and kept pre-stressed until the concrete is cured. Said deck may rest on the diaphragms on each end or they may have at least one load transfer member embedded in each diaphragm and extending outside of the diaphragm and resting on a support member in the structure. Each deck may have a top member placed on the top surfaces of the I-beams, side members and diaphragm, which may be a pre-cast concrete slab, flooring or a roof.

An exemplary method of forming an embodiment of an I-deck comprises: preparing a form for pre-casting concrete; placing the wire strands as reinforcing material in the form and stretching the wire strands under high tension; pouring sufficient concrete into the form to form the soffit; adding any filling material to the top of the soffit; and while the concrete has not cured, pouring the concrete for the I-beams and diaphragms into the form and finally cutting the wire strands and removing the deck from the form.

Constructing the deck by applying high tension to the steel wire strands before and during the curing of the concrete produces a monolithic structure of great strength and resistance to cracking. The high-tension steel wires help keep the concrete compressed throughout its life. These wires also reduce deflection for any length of span.

Other systems, methods, features, and/or advantages of this disclosure will be or may become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following drawings and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional system, methods, features and/or advantages be included within this description and be within the scope of the present disclosure.

Many aspects of the disclosure can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily to scale. Moreover, in the drawings, like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

FIG. 1 shows a cross-section of an embodiment of an I-deck.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective cut-away section of an embodiment of an I-deck from one corner of a deck adjoining another deck.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of four I-decks, which have intermediate diaphragms surrounding an aperture.

FIG. 4 a cross-section of a portion of an I-beam of a deck with a support attached to a wall.

• Provisional Patent
• Utility Patent

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