STRUCTURAL PERFORMANCE OF A HYBRID GLASS FIBER REINFORCED POLYMER BRIDGE DECK SYSTEM
Open Access
- Author:
- Zhu, Jiejian
- Graduate Program:
- Civil Engineering
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- June 20, 2013
- Committee Members:
- Maria Lopez De Murphy, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Gordon Patrick Warn, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Charles E Bakis, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor - Keywords:
- lightweight
composite bridge deck
grout
experimentation
structure behavior
analytical model - Abstract:
- A lightweight composite bridge deck system was developed as part of a Highway for LIFE Technology Partnerships Program from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The deck panel consists of pultruded trapezoidal GFRP tubes and glass fiber outer wrap, and is designed to be filled with grout if higher stiffness is needed. The performance of tubes and panels with different grout and grouting patterns was evaluated in single span tests. Also, two-span flexure tests were performed on grouted and non-grouted panels to evaluate their structural behavior in both positive and negative bending regions. Test results showed that the epoxy grouted panel met the AASHTO deflection requirement (L/800) and had promising advantages over the cementitious grouted panel in terms of flexural stiffness. Different types of potential failure modes of pultruded tubes were evaluated in order to predict the governing failure mode, and it was found the predicted failure mode and corresponding failure load matched well with those from experimental tests. Failure mode of non-grouted panel was found to be preferable since it was localized failure, which did not lead to collapse. An analytical model was developed to predict the load-deflection relation of grouted and non-grouted panels in different loading conditions, and when compared to experimental data, it was able to predict the panel deflection well even at 3 times the service load within 11% error.