Fatigue Performance of 60-Year-Old Bridge Reinforced Concrete Girders Strengthened in Shear with CFRP Sheets
Publication: Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 28, Issue 6
Abstract
Bridges situated in northern climate regions, which face severe environmental conditions and daily fatigue loading, are prone to accelerated deterioration and corrosion of their components. The application of carbon fiber–reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets bonding to the surface of bridge elements has emerged as an attractive solution for enhancing bridge strength. Past studies and field implementations have effectively showcased the viability of this approach in strengthening bridges. An exceptional opportunity arises with the deconstruction of a bridge in Canada, providing a unique chance to assess and study the condition of reinforced concrete elements strengthened with CFRP. These elements have endured real service conditions, including fatigue loads and exposure to aggressive environmental factors. This paper presents the experimental results of a research program that aimed to investigate the residual fatigue life and capacity of 60-year-old reinforced concrete bridge girders, which were strengthened using CFRP sheets. The study focuses on assessing the performance of these girders under different test conditions, providing valuable insights into their remaining fatigue life and load-carrying capabilities. The two 60-year-old girders have been strengthened with CFRP for the last 10 years of the service life of the bridge. The two full-scale girders were tested under 2 million fatigue load cycles and then tested monotonically until failure at the structural lab of the University of Sherbrooke. The test results revealed that the CFRP-strengthening technique can extend the service life of the bridge element and enhance its shear capacity. The CFRP–concrete interface and CFRP sheets showed excellent bonding behavior, as no damage-debonding failure or tensile rupture occurred until the formation of the diagonal shear crack.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and codes generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the financial support of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Also, a special acknowledgment is made of the research group of Dr. Masmoudi and the technical staff in the structural laboratory in the Department of Civil and Building Engineering at the University of Sherbrooke.
Notation
The following symbols are used in this paper:
- Ac
- cross-sectional area of the deep beam;
- Af
- total areas of the FRP reinforcement;
- As
- total areas of non-prestressed longitudinal reinforcement;
- Astr
- cross-sectional area of the diagonal strut;
- Aw
- total areas of the web reinforcement;
- a
- shear span;
- bw
- width of the deep beam;
- Fc
- compressive force transmitted through the inclined strut;
- f1
- principal tensile stress perpendicular to the inclined strut at the bottom nodal zone of a deep beam
- f2
- compressive stress applied to the inclined concrete strut;
- concrete compressive strength;
- ff
- ultimate strength of FRP materials;
- ft
- tensile strength contribution of concrete, reinforcement, and FRP materials;
- ft1
- tensile strength contribution of the longitudinal steel reinforcement;
- ft2
- tensile strength contribution of the inclined web reinforcement;
- ft3
- tensile strength contribution of the FRP composite materials;
- ft4
- tensile strength contribution of concrete;
- fy
- yield strengths of non-prestressed longitudinal reinforcement;
- fyw
- yield strengths of the web reinforcement;
- h
- overall beam height;
- K
- beam stiffness;
- k
- fatigue exponent or the slope of the S−N curve;
- la
- depth of the bottom nodal zone of the inclined strut;
- lb
- width of the support-bearing plate;
- lc
- depth of the top nodal zone of the inclined strut;
- Ntot
- total number of cycles encompassing all strain ranges;
- nf
- number of FRP layers;
- ni
- number of cycles observed for that particular strain range;
- Pmax
- maximum applied fatigue load;
- Pmin
- minimum applied fatigue load;
- SReqv
- equivalent constant strain;
- SRi
- strain range for the ith cycle;
- T
- tensile force carried by the horizontal tie;
- Vc
- shear strength contribution of concrete;
- V_exp
- experimentally measured total shear force;
- Vfrp
- shear strength contribution of FRP;
- Vn
- total shear strength of the section;
- Vs
- shear strength contribution of steel stirrups;
- V_STM
- total shear strength calculated according to STM;
- x
- factor taking account of the nonuniformity of the stress distribution;
- Zs
- lever arm connecting the longitudinal steel bars to the center of the upper node of the diagonal strut;
- δmax
- midspan displacement measured corresponding to the maximum fatigue load;
- δmin
- midspan displacement measured corresponding to the minimum fatigue load;
- θs
- inclination angle (θs) of the inclined strut in relation to the longitudinal axis of the deep beam.
- θw
- inclination angle of the web reinforcement;
- θwf
- inclination angle of the FRP; and
- μ
- diagonal concrete strut effectiveness factor.
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Journal of Composites for Construction
Volume 28 • Issue 6 • December 2024
Copyright
© 2024 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 18, 2023
Accepted: Jun 7, 2024
Published online: Sep 24, 2024
Published in print: Dec 1, 2024
Discussion open until: Feb 24, 2025
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