RAPID CONSTRUCTION OF CONCRETE BRIDGE DECK USING PREFABRICATED FRP REINFORCEMENT

This paper reports on the key features of the "Guide for the Design and Construction of Concrete Reinforced with FRP Bars" issued by the American Concrete Institute (ACI). For new construction, FRP bars have been used as the internal reinforcement in concrete members to replace conventional steel rebars for a host of reasons. The principles for design and construction were first established and proposed to industry in 2001. The third revision of the guide is now under preparation.

A proposed model specification for FRP composite materials for use in civil engineering structural systems is described in this article. The model specification provides a classification systems for FRP materials, describes admissible constituent materials and limits on selected constituent volumes, describes tests for specified mechanical and physical properties, specifies limiting values of selected properties in the as-received condition and in a saturated state, and provides a protocol for p...

This paper describes the use of FRP materials as reinforcements and formwork for a concrete highway bridge deck. It describes the construction process and provides a cost analysis of the project. A continuing research program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is developing concepts for bridge decks reinforced with fiber reinforced polymers (FRP). This project involved the implementation of one of these concepts in a major highway bridge. Three forms of FRP reinforcing were combined to reinf...

This paper presents a case study of prefabricated double-layer pultruded fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) grids for bridge deck construction. These grids were used to reinforce a 39.6m long by 13.7m wide (130 by 45ft) bridge deck on US Highway 151 over the De Neveu Creek in Wisconsin. The Federal Highway Administration Innovative Bridge Research and Construction Program invested resources in this program to investigate new uses for off-the-shelf technologies in constructing highway bridges. The fe...

There is an increasing interest by Departments of Transportation in the development and implementation of durable structural systems for accelerated bridge construction. The main objective is to minimize construction costs, and the impact of the economic and social costs associated with rehabilitation or replacement of a significant portion of the US bridge inventory. This paper reports on the development of an innovative glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) reinforcement for the rapid construc...

The use of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) reinforcement is a practical alternative to conventional steel rebars in concrete structures subjected to aggressive environments. The solution is attractive for bridge deck and rail applications, as it eliminates corrosion of the steel reinforcement, which is the major instrument of degradation. Due to the peculiar physical and mechanical characteristics of advanced composite materials, the design philosophy of FRP reinforced concrete (RC) structures di...