Synopsis
Sandwich slab construction is a novel bridge slab system, which provides substantial economic savings in the construction of steel bridges. The advent of the sandwich slab has allowed engineers to design new forms of steel bridge construction, which cannot be achieved by conventional concrete slabs.
It has been more than 10 years since the technology was developed by Sumitomo Metal Industries, Japan and a number of composite steel bridges have been constructed using sandwich slabs in Japan. The products are now being supplied by Yokogawa-Sumikin Bridge, Japan. The technology was also independently assessed and has been officially registered in the civil engineering technology database system 'New Technology Information System' (NETIS) provided by the Ministry of the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT), Japan. Despite its excellent track record, the sandwich slab has never been used outside Japan. This paper describes the sandwich slabs and the new forms of steel bridge design that have been realised by the sandwich slab technology.