Field Investigation on the First Bridge Deck Slab Reinforced with Glass FRP Bars Constructed in Canada
Publication: Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 9, Issue 6
Abstract
Recently, there has been a rapid increase in using noncorrosive fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) reinforcing bars as alternative reinforcement for bridge deck slabs, especially those in harsh environments. A new two-span girder type bridge, Cookshire-Eaton Bridge (located in the municipality of Cookshire, Quebec, Canada), was constructed with a total length of 52.08 m over two equal spans. The deck was a 200-mm-thick concrete slab continuous over four spans of 2.70 m between girders with an overhang of 1.40 m on each side. One full span of the bridge was totally reinforced using glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars, while the other span was reinforced with galvanized steel bars. The bridge deck was well instrumented at critical locations for internal temperature and strain data collection using fiber optic sensors. The bridge was tested for service performance using calibrated truckloads as specified by the Canadian Highway Bridge Design Code. The construction procedure and field test results under actual service conditions revealed that GFRP rebar provides very competitive performance in comparison to steel.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers wish to extend special thanks to the following organizations for their contribution to this project: The Ministry of Transportation of Quebec (Quebec City, Quebec): bridge owner; Le Groupe Teknika Inc. (Sherbrooke, Quebec): project consultant; Pultrall Inc., Division of ADS Composites Group (Thetford Mines, Quebec): supplier of the composite FRP reinforcing bars; and Roctest Ltd. (St. Lambert, Quebec): supplier of the fiber-optic sensors and its data-acquisition system. The Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) (Ottawa, Ontario), ISIS-Canada (Network of Centres of Excellence) (Winnipeg, Manitoba), and the Fonds Québécois de Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies (FQRNT) (Québec, Canada) are gratefully acknowledged for their partial funding.
References
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO. (1998). LRFD bridge design specifications, 2nd ed., Washington, D.C.
American Concrete Institute (ACI). (2003). “Guide for the design and construction of concrete reinforced with FRP bars.” ACI 440.1R-03, Farmington Hills, Mich.
Bakht, B., Mufti, A., and Tadros, G. (2004). “Discussion of ‘FRP composite bars for the concrete deck slab of Wotton Bridge.’ ” Can. J. Civ. Eng., 31(3), 530–531.
Barr, P. J., Eberhard, M. O., and Stanton, J. F. (2001). “Live-load distribution factors in prestressed concrete girder bridges.” J. Bridge Eng., 6(5), 298–306.
Benmokrane, B., El-Salakawy, E. F., El-Ragaby, A., and Lackey, T. (2005). “Designing and testing of concrete bridge decks reinforced with glass FRP bars.” J. Bridge Eng., in press.
Benmokrane, B., Ton-That, M. T., Laoubi, K., Robert, J. F., and Wang, P. (2001). “Durability evaluation of glass FRP composites rods in concrete environment.” Proc., 3rd Int. Conf. on Concrete Under Severe Conditions: Environment and Loading, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, 2, 1239–1246.
Benmokrane, B., Wang, P., Ton-That, T. M., Rahman, H., and Robert, J. F. (2002a). “Durability of glass fiber-reinforced polymer reinforcing bars in concrete environment.” J. Compos. Constr., 6(3), 143–153.
Benmokrane, B., Zhang, B., Laoubi, K., Tighiouart, B., and Lord, I. (2002b). “Mechanical and bond properties of new generation of carbon fiber reinforced polymer reinforcing bars for concrete structures.” Can. J. Civ. Eng., 29(2), 338–343.
Bradberry, T. E. (2001). “Concrete bridge decks reinforced with fiber reinforced polymer bars.” Transportation Research Record, 1770, Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C., 94–104.
Canadian Standards Association (CSA). (2000). “Canadian highway bridge design code.” CAN/CSA-S6-00, Toronto.
Canadian Standards Association (CSA). (2002). “Design and construction of building components with fiber reinforced polymers.” CSA S806-02, Toronto.
DMI operating manual (long range version 4.274). (2000). FISO Technologies, Sainte-Foy, Canada.
El-Salakawy, E. F., and Benmokrane, B. (2003). “Design and testing of a highway concrete bridge deck reinforced with glass and carbon FRP bars.” Field applications of FRP reinforcement: Case studies, American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, Mich., 37–54.
El-Salakawy, E. F., and Benmokrane, B. (2004). “Serviceability of concrete bridge deck slabs reinforced with FRP composite bars.” ACI Struct. J., 101(5), pp. 593–602.
El-Salakawy, E. F., Benmokrane, B., Briére, F., Masmoudi, R., and Beaumier, E. (2003a). “Concrete bridge barriers reinforced with GFRP composite bars.” ACI Struct. J., 100(6), 815–824.
El-Salakawy, E., Benmokrane, B., and Desgagné, G. (2003b). “FRP composite bars for the concrete deck slab of Wotton Bridge.” Can. J. Civ. Eng., 30(5), 861–870.
Eom, J., and Novak, A. S. (2001). “Live load distribution for steel girder bridges.” J. Bridge Eng., 6(6), 489–497.
Huckelbridge, A., and Eitel, A. (2003). “Preliminary performance observations for FRP reinforced concrete bridge deck.” Field applications of FRP reinforcement: Case studies, American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, Mich., 121–138.
Humar, J., and Razaqpur, G., eds. (2000). Proc., 3rd Int. Conf. Advanced Composite Materials in Bridges and Structures, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering, Ottawa.
ISIS Canada. (2001). “Reinforcing concrete structures with fiber reinforced polymers.” ISIS M03-01, Canadian Network of Centers of Excellence on Intelligent Sensing for Innovative Structures, University of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
Laoubi, K., El-Salakawy, E. F., Pigeon, M., and Benmokrane, B. (2003). “Durability of concrete beams reinforced with GFRP bars under different environmental and loading conditions.” Proc., 6th Int. Symp. on Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Reinforcement for Concrete Structures, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Nanni, A., and Faza, S. (2002). “Designing and constructing with FRP bars: An emerging technology.” Concr. Int., 24(11), 53–58.
Nkurunziza, G., Cousin, P., Masmoudi, R., and Benmokrane, B. (2003). “Effect of sustained tensile stress and alkaline on durability of GFRP bars.” Int. J. Mater. Prod. Technol., 19(4–5), 1–13.
Stone, D., Nanni, A., and Myers, J. J. (2001). “Field and laboratory performance of FRP bridge decks.” Proc., FRP Composites in Construction, Balkema, Rothlerdam, The Netherlands, J. Figueiras, L. Juvandes, and R. Furia, eds., 701–706.
V-ROD composite reinforcing rods technical data sheet. (2003). Pultrall Inc., Thetford Mines, Canada.
Wang, P., Masmoudi, R., and Benmokrane, B. (2002). “Durability of GFRP composite bars for concrete structures: Assessment and improvement.” Proc., 2nd Int. Conf. on Durability of FRP Composites for Construction, Centernt Association of Canada, Montreal, 153–164.
Yunovich, M., and Thompson, N. (2003). “Corrosion of highway bridges: Economic impact and control methodologies.” Concr. Int., 25(1), 52–57.
Zokaie, T., Osterkamp, T. A., and Imbsen, R. A. (1991). “Distribution of wheel loads on highway bridges.” NCHRP 12-26/1 Final Rep., National Cooperative Highway Research Program, Washington, D.C.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 9 • Issue 6 • December 2005
Pages: 470 - 479
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Feb 10, 2005
Accepted: Apr 21, 2005
Published online: Dec 1, 2005
Published in print: Dec 2005
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.