3
FATIGUE EVALUATION OF MULTIPLE FIBER-REINFORCED POLYMER BRIDGE
DECK SYSTEMS OVER EXISTING GIRDERS-PHASE II
______________________________________________________________________________
Piyush K. Dutta, Roberto Lopez-Anido , Soon-Chul Kwon and Glenn D. Durell
ABSTRACT
Decks manufactured with fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials are used in
highway bridges. A performance evaluation of FRP composite decks subjected to simulated
traffic loads that induce repetitive stress cycles under extremely high and low temperature is
presented. Fatigue testing of three FRP composite bridge deck prototypes and one FRP-concrete
hybrid bridge deck prototype under two extreme temperature conditions: -30C (-22F), and
50C (122F) was conducted. The fatigue response of the deck prototypes was correlated with
the baseline performance of a conventional reinforced concrete deck subjected to similar test
conditions. Design loads were applied simultaneously at two points using servo-controlled
hydraulic actuators specially designed and fabricated to perform under extreme temperatures.
Quasi-static load-deflection and load-strain characteristics were determined at predetermined
fatigue cycle levels. No significant distress was observed in any of the composite deck
prototypes during ten million load cycles. The effects of extreme temperatures and accumulated
load cycles on the load-deflection and load-strain response of FRP composite and FRP-concrete
hybrid bridge decks are discussed based on the experimental results.
Previous Page
