Designing and Testing of Concrete Bridge Decks Reinforced with Glass FRP Bars
Publication: Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 11, Issue 2
Abstract
In addition to their high strength and light weight, fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite reinforcing bars offer corrosion resistance, making them a promising alternative to traditional steel reinforcing bars in concrete bridge decks. FRP reinforcement has been used in several bridge decks recently constructed in North America. The Morristown Bridge, which is located in Vermont, United States, is a single span steel girder bridge with integral abutments spanning 43.90 m. The deck is a 230 mm thick concrete continuous slab over girders spaced at 2.36 m. The entire concrete deck slab was reinforced with glass FRP (GFRP) bars in two identical layers at the top and the bottom. The bridge is well instrumented at critical locations for internal temperature and strain data collection with fiber-optic sensors. The bridge was tested for service performance using standard truck loads. The construction procedure and field test results under actual service conditions revealed that GFRP rebar provides very good and promising performance.
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Acknowledgments
The writers wish to extend special thanks to the following organizations and individuals for their contribution to this project: Pultrall Inc., Division of ADS Composites Group (Thetford Mines, Quebec): supplier of the composite FRP reinforcing bars; Roctest Ltd. (St. Lambert, Quebec): Marco Quirion, supplier of the fiber-optic sensors and data-acquisition system; the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) (Ottawa, Ontario):NRC partial funding; ISIS-Canada (Network of Centres of Excellence) (Winnipeg, Manitoba): partial funding); Department of Civil Engineering, University of Sherbrooke (Sherbrooke, Quebec); and the Vermont Agency of Transportation: District 6 personnel for field support.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Bridge Engineering
Volume 11 • Issue 2 • March 2006
Pages: 217 - 229
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Jan 9, 2004
Accepted: Dec 7, 2004
Published online: Mar 1, 2006
Published in print: Mar 2006
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