Construction, Inspection, and Maintenance of FRP Deck Panels
Publication: Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 10, Issue 6
Abstract
Composite materials are clearly having a major impact on how facilities are designed, constructed, and maintained. In order to enhance the application of fiber-reinforced composites in infrastructure renewal, it will be important to understand the constructability, maintainability, operability, and inspection issues related to the use of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) structural components. This paper identifies these issues as well as fabrication issues, construction methods, quality, man-hour requirements, cost and productivity issues, and the skill level required to install FRP bridge deck panels. The data required for this research were collected through two questionnaire studies, personal interviews with two manufacturers of FRP bridge deck panels (i.e., Hardcore Composites and Martin Marietta Composites), and candidate projects for FRP bridge deck construction.
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Acknowledgments
The writers are grateful to the Joint Transportation Research Program for their sponsorship and support of this research. Gratitude is also extended to all of the state and county engineers who responded to the questionnaire survey as well as the manufacturers’ composites engineers for their input.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 10 • Issue 6 • December 2006
Pages: 561 - 572
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: May 6, 2005
Accepted: Mar 8, 2006
Published online: Dec 1, 2006
Published in print: Dec 2006
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