Structural Fiber Reinforcement to Reduce Deck Reinforcement and Improve Long-Term Performance

US Transportation Collection2020PDFTech ReportMcRory, Jared WPozo-Lora, Fray FBenson, ZacharyMaguire, MarcUtah State UniversityUnited States. Department of Transportation. University Transportation Centers (UTC) ProgramMountain Plains ConsortiumNorth Dakota State UniversityUnited States. Department of Transportation. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and TechnologyMountain Plains ConsortiumUnited StatesBridge decksComposite materialsCrackingDeflectionDuctilityFatigue (Mechanics)Fiber reinforced polymersFlexural strengthGlass fibersReinforced concrete bridgesService lifeFiber reinforced concretePerformanceStructural materialsMPC-581Final ReportThe use of deicing salts on highway bridges has decreased the service life of bridge decks due to the accelerated corrosion of the steel reinforcement. The use of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) in bridge decks as a means of corrosion-mitigation has been met with some success; however, GFRP is a linear-elastic material that does not exhibit any plastic behavior prior to rupture. This current work provides a description of an experiment conducted on 14 full-scale 4\u2019x12\u2019 flexural bridge deck specimens and six full-scale 14\u2019x12\u2019 punching shear specimens. The decks contained steel-reinforcement, GFRP-reinforcement, or discrete GFRP-reinforcement combined with alkali-resistant fiberglass composite macrofibers. The investigation consisted of two parts: the static testing and the cyclic and post-cyclic testing. The cyclic specimens experienced either 1 or 2 million cycles at the service level. The hybrid reinforced concrete (HRC) decks exhibited more flexural ductility prior to the rupture of the concrete than both the steel- and GFRP-reinforced deck panels. Under fatigue loading, all of the decks performed within the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) criteria for service level crack width and deflections. Therefore, based on the results, the HRC reinforcement strategy is viable for both ultimate and service limit states.120