Rehabilitation of the Infrastructure Using Composite Materials: Overview and Applications

The volume of the infrastructure that needs upgrading, strengthening and/or repair is growing worldwide. The traditional techniques of rehabilitation are faced with challenges from new materials and methods that offer convenience in application and lesser degree of financial constraints to the owner. The new advances made with fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites, because of their many advantages over steel and other conventional materials, have provided engineers with stimulus in circumventing the difficulties associated with the traditional techniques of rehabilitation process. Although the applicability of the new materials and techniques are verified by more than ten years of field applications and a bulk of experimental data, many engineers, owners, architects and contractors still have hesitation in taking the full advantage of these materials. Some of the major reasons behind this hesitation are: the absence of code of practice, standards, guidelines for design and detailing, and the lack of clear understanding of the structural performance of the composite structure under short- and long-term loads. Although, it might be argued that the material cost of FRP is about 5 to 10 times than that of steel, the total cost of retrofitting with FRP materials in general is more economical as compared to steel. This is true because in a retrofitting operation, material cost is only a fraction of the total retrofitting cost, the remainder being the application, labor and maintenance costs. Moreover, ease of installing, handling, storage, transporting and the life cycle cost benefits of FRP could lead to a great saving in the overall cost that may exceed the difference in the material cost. This paper provides an overview of the engineering properties of FRP as a repair and retrofit material for infrastructure applications. It also presents a state-of-the-art information of research and development undertaken in the area of using advanced composite materials for rehabilitation of infrastructure components