ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL CONCRETE ABSTRACTS PORTAL

  • The International Concrete Abstracts Portal is an ACI led collaboration with leading technical organizations from within the international concrete industry and offers the most comprehensive collection of published concrete abstracts.

International Concrete Abstracts Portal

  


Title: FRP Reinforced Concrete in Texas Transportation Past, Present, Future

Author(s): T. E. Bradberry and S. Wallace

Publication: Symposium Paper

Volume: 215

Issue:

Appears on pages(s): 3-36

Keywords: corrosion-induced concrete deterioration; fiber reinforced polymer composites; FRP repair; FRP strengthening; impact damage; infrastructure; rehabilitation; structural concrete; transportation

DOI: 10.14359/12856

Date: 8/1/2003

Abstract:
Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) materials can be used in concrete infrastructure elements to achieve short-term and long-term construction and performance goals that cannot be met with traditional steel reinforcement. Like other states, Texas is faced with materials-based transportation infrastructure challenges including: deterioration of concrete due to the corrosion of steel reinforcement, bridge girders damaged by vehicle impacts, concrete bridges that have no visual signs of distress but are load-posted or otherwise deficient in load rating, girders and bent caps that have inadequate shear reinforcement by current standards or that exhibit service cracking, and even a need to provide reinforcement that does not interfere with vehicle imaging loops requiring magnetic/electrical isolation near turnpike toll plazas. This paper reports on Texas transportation infrastructure construction and maintenance projects where FRP materials have been implemented as a means to meet each of these challenges. Included herein are descriptions of selected Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) construction and maintenance projects involving concrete internally and externally reinforced by FRP materials. These projects are either completed or will soon go to contract. Most of these projects have been carried out on a trial or experimental basis but they serve to provide a brief glimpse into the probable future of FRP reinforcement in Texas transportation projects.