Composite deck design

Composite Deck Design

Perform comprehensive calculations on design members for steel or steel/composite bridge decks. Version 20 facilities now include design checks for Strength/ULS bending stress and interaction effects, SLS, fatigue, shear connector and stiffener design, based on stresses built up through the stages of construction and in-service. 

  • Obtain full details of the calculations made, referencing all relevant clauses and equations from the design code, and output to a model report.
  • Increase the complexity of the analysis model without changing the design data, and evaluate the effect of a design change, without having to change or solve the analysis model each time.
  • For use with 2D Grillage/Plate and 3D element model types.



Watch the 60 second feature video.

In detail...

Create design members

Use the Steel Composite Bridge Wizard to automatically create the required Composite Bridge Deck Design members when bridge design materials are additionally specified for all I-girders. Add details for transverse stiffener design also.
  • Define additional design details for each design member using a tabbed dialog. 
  • Span lengths, segments (a portion of a span defined by a constant or tapered section), bracing locations, web stiffeners, shear connectors and locations at which design checks will be made, can all be specified.

View summary results

Display design check results in a summary format that references the checks carried out and the values obtained. 
  • Click on separate tabs to show full results for each check. 
  • Design checks are colour coded green to indicate a pass, and red to indicate a failure. 
  • Each result cell provides a context menu to allow further investigation of a design check value.

Explore the checks made

Drill-down into the outline results to examine the various parts of the design check. Each check clicked displays more detail in the adjacent panel.

View detailed calculations

See the full details of the design checks carried out for a selected design value.
  • Display analysis data such as section dimensions and section materials, and forces, properties and stresses used in the various phases of design, to allow checking of such details. 
  • Click on a clause reference and utilisation value to view detailed calculations for that check and result.  

Other capabilities

  • View section stress profiles for the various load phases and section properties used in the design check.  
  • Edit section dimensions and see the design check calculations re-evaluated instantly based on the new section data using the previously solved results from the model. This provides the ability to make what-if design changes to try and ensure a valid design before re-visiting and updating the bridge model.  

Generate always up-to-date reports

Add analysis data and rendered design checks to a model report. Each time the model report is generated, the member report data will be updated to match the current state of the model.

Design codes supported

The following design code is currently supported:

  • AASHTO LRFD 8th and 9th Edition (USA)
  • CSA S6:19 and CSA S6-14 (Canada)


 For composite bridge deck design checks to EN1994 (Europe), the Composite Deck Designer (PontiEC4) software option is available.

Design calculations and results output


Construction phases supported:


  • Phase 1 – Self weight 
  • Phase 2a – Permanent loads 
  • Phase 2b – Concrete Shrinkage 
  • Phase 3a – Thermal actions 
  • Phase 3 b – Traffic loads 


AASHTO 8th Edition clauses supported:


  • 6.10.1.6 Flange stresses 
  • 6.10.2 Cross-section proportion limits 
  • 6.10.3 Constructability 
  • 6.10.3.2 Flexure 
  • 6.10.3.3 Shear 
  • 6.10.4 Service 
  • 6.10.4.2 Permanent Deformations 
  • 6.10.5 Fatigue and Flexure 
  • 6.10.5.1 Fatigue (Shear connectors and web stiffener/flange connections) 
  • 6.10.5.3 Special Fatigue for Webs 
  • 6.10.6 Strength 
  • 6.10.6.2 Flexure 
  • 6.10.6.3 Shear 
  • 6.10.7 Positive Flexure 
  • 6.10.8 Negative Flexure or Appendix A6 as applicable 
  • 6.10.11.1 Transverse Stiffeners 
  • 6.10.11.2 Bearing Stiffeners 

Learn it fast

Existing users can easily apply the new Composite Deck Designer because it works in a similar way to other tools they are familiar with.

Watch a video...

Composite Bridge Deck Design to AASHTO LRFD 8th Ed.

Shows the steps involved to carry out a design check of a composite girder member to AASHTO LRFD 8th.

(Version 19.0)
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