Experimental Study on Shear Connection for FRP Bridge Decks

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) panels, with sandwich or cellular configurations, are steadily gaining popularity in highway bridge applications due to their favorable performance for minimum unit weight. One of the most likely uses of FRP panels is FRP decks over steel or concrete girders. Adequate connectivity should be achieved through shear connections between FRP decks and steel girders, and their development is critical in order to achieve partial or full composite actions. For applications in practice, an effective deck-to-girder connector design is needed, validated by full investigation of strength, stiffness, and fatigue performance characteristics. In this paper, the design and performance of a sleeve type shear connection for FRP decks is presented. This shear connection can accommodate both sandwich and cellular FRP decks with various heights. It has the ability to sustain interface shear to achieve composite action in FRP deck-and-steel girder bridges, while maintaining simplicity in manufacturing and installation. The tests conducted on this shear connection are at both component and system levels, to investigate its strength, stiffness, and fatigue performance. This sleeve type shear connection has shown to have both practical and technical attributes for adoption in bridge engineering, and implementation in field projects.