Applications of advanced fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites in bridge engineering: rehabilitation of metallic bridge structures, all-FRP composite bridges, and bridges built with hybrid systems

Author(s):  
L.C. Hollaway
Author(s):  
Tomasz Siwowski ◽  
Aleksander Kozlowski ◽  
Leonard Ziemiański ◽  
Mateusz Rajchel ◽  
Damian Kaleta

<p>Technology and materials can help cities get smarter and cope with rapid urbanisation. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is one of the approaches applied in evaluation of material sustainability. Many significant LCA comparisons of innovative and traditional construction materials indicate that fibre- reinforced polymer (FRP) composites compare very favourably with other materials studied. As a proposal for rapid urbanisation, the FRP all-composite road bridge was developed and demonstrated in Poland. The paper describes the bridge system itself and presents the results of research on its development. The output of the R&amp;D project gives a very promising future for the FRP composite bridge application in Poland, especially for cleaner, resilient and more environmentally efficient infrastructure of fast-growing cities.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 64 (189) ◽  
pp. 75-84
Author(s):  
Łukasz Gołębiowski ◽  
Marcin Siwek ◽  
Marcin Ciesielski ◽  
Andrzej Zagórski ◽  
Sławomir Krauze ◽  
...  

The subject of the modelling work and the conducted experiments is the composite shell of a train seat. The activities carried out involved designing the geometry, planning the material structure, and selecting the materials to be used. The shell was built using polymer matrix fibrous composites (i.e. FRP – Fibre Reinforced Polymer – composites), which are lighter than steel and comply with the relevant standards for strength and safety at the same time. This was followed by creating a computational model for the shell and conducting a strength analysis in accordance with the guidelines of the relevant industry standard and strength hypotheses adopted for FRP composites. The calculations were conducted using ANSYS Composite PrepPost software based on the finite element method. The article offers a strength analysis of an optimised composite shell of a train seat. Based on the guidelines obtained as a result of the conducted modelling work, a physical prototype (validation model) of the seat was created. Hot vacuum lamination technology was applied in the production process. The experimental validation of the model, producing a positive result, was conducted using a test stand owned by S.Z.T.K. TAPS – Maciej Kowalski. Keywords: train seat structure, FRP composite, FEM modelling, experimental validation


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baisheng Zhang ◽  
Hongchao Zhao

Abstract With the depletion of shallow resources, the drawbacks of conventional bolting system in sustaining the integrity of the roadway have drawn much attention. Developing the innovative secondary standing support is therefore to be urgent. This paper presents a hybrid tubular standing support, which consists of an exterior container made of PVC and fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites and the infill material made of coal rejects and high flowable cementitious grout material. Compared with other marketable standing support, the combination application of the large rupture strain PVC tube and the FRP composite with high strength-to-weight ratio can provide the effective confinement to infill material, which may result in the strain hardening behaviour. The use of coal reject to generate the backfill material is believed to be effective and thus is attractive from the design aspect. To verify these mentioned advantages, a series of compression tests were conducted on this FRP-PVC tubular standing support (FPTSS) with different thickness of the FRP jacket. In addition, the compression tests were also conducted to investigate the compressive behaviour of FRP tubular standing support (FTSS) and PVC tubular standing support (PTSS). Test results indicated that the combination of FRP and PVC composite achieve the superior behaviour either in terms of the compressive strength or the deformation ability.


2017 ◽  
Vol 740 ◽  
pp. 111-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chye Lih Tan ◽  
Azwan Iskandar Azmi ◽  
Noorhafiza Muhammad

Hole quality is one of the important criteria for hybrid composite components when assessing drilling behaviour because it influences the strength of composite parts post assembly. Nonetheless, some unique characteristics of hybrid Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites make them difficult to obtain the required quality and strict final dimensional accuracy. Based on previous studies, delamination has been recognized as one of the critical failure mechanisms in the drilling operation of FRP composites. It can often be the limiting factor for the final composite materials applications. Thus, in order to achieve a delamination-free in the drilling of hybrid FRP composites, an analytical model and a series of thrust force experiments are endeavoured in this study. The main purpose of the model is to compute the critical thrust force at the on-set of delamination during the drilling process. Results of this analytical study indicated that the delamination damage can be alleviated if the applied thrust force is lower than the critical thrust force value. Importantly, a good agreement was evident between the estimated critical thrust force and the measured thrust force in this particular study.


2003 ◽  
Vol 1819 (1) ◽  
pp. 378-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vimala Shekar ◽  
Samer H. Petro ◽  
Hota V. S. GangaRao

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have been used more often over the past decade than before in new construction as well as in repair of deteriorated bridges. Many of these bridges are on low-volume roads, where they receive very little attention. It is imperative that new bridge construction or repair be long lasting, nearly maintenance free, and as economical as possible. Relative to those factors, FRP composite bridges have been found to be structurally adequate and feasible because of their reduced maintenance cost and limited environmental impact (i.e., no harmful chemicals leaching into the atmosphere with longer service life). In West Virginia, 23 FRP composite bridges have been constructed, among which 18 are built on low-volume roads that have an average daily traffic (ADT) of less than 1,000, including 7 with ADT less than 400. General FRP composite bridge geometry and preliminary field responses are presented as are some of the preliminary construction specifications and cost data of FRP composite bridges built on low-volume roads in West Virginia


2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 161-169
Author(s):  
Mateusz Rajchel ◽  
Tomasz Siwowski

Abstract Despite many advantages over the conventional construction materials, the contemporary development of FRP composites in bridge engineering is limited due to high initial cost, low stiffness (in case of glass fibers) and sudden composite failure mode. In order to reduce the given limitations, mixed (hybrid) solutions connecting the FRP composites and conventional construction materials, including concrete, have been tested in many countries for 20 years. Shaping the hybrid structures based on the attributes of particular materials, aims to increase stiffness and reduce cost without losing the carrying capacity, lightness and easiness of bridges that includes such hybrid girders, and to avoid the sudden dangerous failure mode. In the following article, the authors described examples of hybrid road bridges made of FRP composite and concrete within the time of 20 years and presented the first Polish hybrid FRP-concrete road bridge. Also, the directions of further research, necessary to spread these innovative, advanced and sustainable bridge structures were indicated.


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