In the past, a number of steel girder-reinforced concrete deck bridges on county roads in the
United States have been built as non-composite. Most of these bridges currently have load
postings limiting the capacity of bus and truck loads on their roadways. Recent research showed
that post installed high strength bolts could be used as shear connectors in rehabilitation work to
achieve partial composite design by deploying 30% to 50% of the connectors typically required for
a full composite design. This paper presents details on the analysis, design, and field application of
post-installed shear connectors on a non-composite concrete deck steel girder bridge in Kentucky.
In order to minimize traffic disruption and construction costs, the shear connectors were inserted
on the bottom side of the deck through the top flange of the steel girder. While the load rating
increased by 132%, field tests conducted before and after installation of the shear connectors
showed that the bridge's live load deflections were reduced by more than 27%.