A review on the use of engineered cementitious composite in bridges

Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) is a material with high ductility, tensile strength and self-healing more than the standard concrete. Applications of ECC are beneficial due to its long life cycle, high strength, low cost in the long-term, low maintenance and environmentally friendly nature. Properties and hardened behavior of ECC highlights that ECC has a tight crack width development, which increases its ability to resist long-term effects of hot, frost and humid weather. Additionally, it results low water permeability coefficient and high steel corrosion resistance compared to other common alternative materials. One of the promising areas of application for ECC is in highway structures, especially highway bridges. Highway structures suffer constantly from adverse environmental loads and often require frequent repairing or replacing due to cracks; expansion; water and chlorides effects which cause steel corrosion or the slope between the pavement, slab and the support at the end of a bridge. Detailed review on different properties and characteristics of ECC and the current applications of ECC clearly highlights the motivation to enhance the use of ECC for bridge construction. In addition, ECC can be introduced in jointless bridges by putting an ECC link slab instead of the expandable mechanical joint.