Sessions & Events

 

All sessions and events take place in Central Daylight Time (CDT).
All events take place at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans.

On-demand sessions will be available for viewing in the convention platform/event app under "On-Demand Content" within 24-48 hours of the session premiere. Please note, on-demand sessions are not available for CEU credit. *Denotes on-demand content.


Emerging FRP Systems and Successful Project Applications, FRPRCS-16 Symposium, Part 4 of 14

Saturday, March 23, 2024  10:30 AM - 12:30 PM, Strand 13B

This session is one of 14 sessions that form the 16th Fiber Reinforced Polymer Reinforced Concrete Structures (FRPRCS-16) Symposium. It is co-sponsored by ACI Committee 440 and the International Institute for FRP in Construction (IIFC) for the purpose of advancing the understanding and application of FRP composites in civil infrastructure to serve the engineering profession and society. FRPRCS was first held in conjunction with the ACI 1993 Spring convention in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Since 1993, FRPRCS has evolved into a prestigious and reputable international conference that has been held 15 times including 5 times in conjunction with ACI: British Columbia, Canada (1993); Baltimore (1999); Kansas City (2005); Tampa (2011); and Anaheim (2017).

This session will focus on the latest emerging FRP systems for concrete structures and successful project applications.

Learning Objectives:
(1) Evaluate tubular structures and hybrid construction with FRP tubes, steel tubes, and concrete;
(2) Demonstrate knowledge about manufacturing of FRP bars and a new epoxy system for high modulus FRP bars;
(3) Explore smart FRP bonded material that can measure the crack opening of a reinforced concrete beam;
(4) Gain knowledge about seawater sea-sand concrete and FRPs.

This session has been approved by AIA and ICC for 2 PDHs (0.2 CEUs). Please note: You must attend the live session for the entire duration to receive credit. On-demand sessions do not qualify for PDH/CEU credit.


Numerical Design Optimization of a New Hybrid-Utility Pole

Presented By: Mohamed Bouabidi
Affiliation: Universite de Sherbrooke
Description: The current market of utility poles is growing rapidly. The dominant materials that are used for this purpose are generally wood, steel, concrete, and fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP). FRP poles are gaining wide acceptance for what they provide in terms of strength and durability, lack of maintenance and a high strength to weight ratio. Hybrid structures can combine the best properties of the materials used, where each part enhances the structure to provide a balanced structure. This study evaluates a hybrid structure composed of three main layers, an outer FRP shell, a hollow concrete core and an inner hollow steel tube, this whole system is to be utilized as a tapered utility pole. The outer FRP shell provides protection and enhances the strength of the pole, the concrete core provides stiffness, and the inner steel tube enhances the flexural performance while reducing the volume in consequence the weight of the structure compared to a fully filled pole. A new design for a 12-feet long hybrid FRP pole using finite element is presented in this paper. The design was based on a parametric study evaluating the effect of key-design parameters (i.e., the thickness of FRP, the volume and strength of the concrete, the thickness and diameter of the steel tube). Concrete strength affected the general performance of the pole, the decrease in concrete strength due to utilizing lightweight concrete was compensated with increasing the FRP pole thickness. For the same pole configuration, with incremental variation of the FRP thickness values from 3 mm to 7 mm up to the initial concrete cracking load, no significant variation of the pole top deflection was observed. However, at failure load the increase of FRP thickness from 3 mm to 7 mm decreased the ultimate tip deflection by 50%. New hybrid utility poles have the potential to be an interesting alternative solution to the conventional poles as they can provide better durability and mechanical performances.


A Novel VOC-Free Epoxy System for High Modulus Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer Rebar

Presented By: Huifeng Qian
Affiliation: Olin Corporation
Description: Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite rebar is a non-metallic concrete reinforcement alternative that has been successfully deployed in hundreds of structural applications globally. The increasing demand for FRP rebar as a metal alternative is driven by its unique value proposition, including lightweight, high strength, magnetic transparency, and most significantly, corrosion resistance. FRP rebar is fabricated through pultrusion, a high throughput composite fabrication process in which, resin-impregnated fiber undergoes rapid cure when pulled through a heated furnace. Considering the open nature of the open pultrusion process, expansion of production capacity for FRP rebar manufacturing demands the use of advanced resins that are free from Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), enable high throughput production, and deliver an outstanding translation of fiber properties following cure. In this work, we will present an epoxy system that is inherently VOC Free and is tailored to enable high throughput manufacturing of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) rebar at scale. Furthermore, the rapid formation of highly crosslinked structures achieved with this resin system during pultrusion is found to enable outstanding fiber property translation resulting in high modulus (>70 GPa) and corrosion resistance (>80 % tensile strength retention without load) that exceeds existing standards such as ASTM D7957.


Monitoring of RC Beams using Smart FRP Bonded Material

Presented By: Ferrier Emmanuel
Affiliation: Université Claude Bernardd Lyon 1
Description: This paper presents the crack monitoring of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) sheets. Emphasis is placed on the development of a smart FRP bonded material that can measure the crack opening of a reinforced concrete beam strengthened by FRP. The reliability measured by a conventional digital image correlation (DIC) and by the proposed smart FRP is employed to assess the contribution of the FRP to control the crack. The monitoring process is based on a large set of experimental database consisting of 19 test beams. The effect of FRP to control the crack opening is studied depending on the steel ratio, FRP ratio and the level of damaged of RC beams when FRP is applied. The results were compared with the theoretical values of crack width and spacing predicted using the Eurocode 2 (EC2) formula, calibrated for non-strengthened RC elements. The corresponding results were compared in order to clarify the effect of external bonded FRP on the cracking behaviour of RC beams.


Durability of a Solid Slab Bridge with Overlays Incorporating BFRP Grids

Presented By: Jun Wang
Affiliation: University of Colorado Denver
Description: When reinforced concrete is exposed to a corrosive environment with sufficient moisture and oxygen, chloride ions may penetrate the concrete and result in the corrosion of reinforcement. Overlays are frequently placed to protect the superstructure of a bridge, thereby extending its service life. Through advanced simulation techniques, this research studies the durability of a solid slab bridge overlaid with ordinary concrete and high performance concrete (HPC) alongside basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) grids. A computer program called Virtual Cement and Concrete Testing Laboratory (VCCTL) is adopted to model the three-dimensional microstructure of the overlays; afterward, agent-based modeling is conducted to examine the random migration of chloride ions. After the migration of chlorides is simulated, the time-dependent response of the overlaid solid slab with the BFRP grids is evaluated.


Sustainable Marine Infrastructure Enabled by the Innovative Use of Seawater Sea-Sand Concrete and Fibre-Reinforced Polymer Composites

Presented By: Tao Yu
Affiliation:
Description: Fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP)-reinforced seawater sea-sand concrete (FRP-SSC) structures are an emerging type of structures first proposed by Dr. J.G. Teng. Built upon the excellent resistance of FRP against various corrosive agents in the marine environment, FRP-SSC structures open up a new horizon for the construction of marine infrastructure by making use of locally available seawater and sea-sand. In addition to their expected excellent durability, FRP-SSC structures offer many compelling advantages, including cost savings in material transportation and reduced mining of river-sand. A major research project led by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University is ongoing, with the aim being to develop innovative forms of, and reliable design methods for FRP-SSC structures to facilitate their wide practical applications. The project covers various aspects ranging from the material level (i.e., SSC, FRP and their interface) to the structural level (i.e., innovative forms and structural behaviour), with a focus on the long-term performance in the marine environment. This presentation will explain the rationale behind FRP-SSC structures and present a summary of the progress of the major project mentioned above, including the results from a large experimental program of field exposure tests involving various types of specimens which have been placed on an exposure site for over three years.


Fatigue Behavior of CFRP Sheets Attached to Concrete Surface by Using EBROG Strengthening Method

Presented By: Giovanni Muciaccia
Affiliation: Polytechnic University of Milan
Description: The externally bonded reinforcement on grooves (EBROG) technique has been recently shown to outperform its rival techniques of surface preparation (such as externally bonded reinforcement, EBR) employed to delay the undesirably premature debonding of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) from the concrete substrate in retrofitted structure. However, the behavior of EBROG method under fatigue loading has not been assessed yet, and the present study is the first attempt to achieve the above aim. For this purpose, an experimental program is conducted in which 16 CFRP-to-concrete bonded joints on the concrete slab prepared through the EBROG and EBR techniques are subjected to the single lap-shear test and fatigue cyclic loading. Furthermore, the bond behavior of CFRP strips-to-concrete substrate is investigated in this research in terms of the load capacity, slip, debonding mechanism, and fatigue life. The results showed that the grooving method improved the bond properties of CFRP-to-concrete joints under fatigue loading. By using this alternative technique, the number of cycles until failure (fatigue life) increases incredibly under the same fatigue cycle loading and the service life of strengthened members could be improved under fatigue loading. Furthermore, the effects of different loading levels on the behavior of CFRP-concrete joints installed by EBROG method are evaluated. The results showed that fatigue life of strengthened specimens decreases by increasing fatigue upper load limit. Finally, a new predictive equation was developed based on plotting the maximum applied fatigue load versus fatigue life curves for CFRP-to-concrete bonded joints for the EBROG method.

Upper Level Sponsors

ACI Northern California and Western Nevada Chapter
Baker
Conseal
Euclid Chemical
FullForce Solutions
Master Builders
Natural Resources Research Institute - University of Minnesota
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