STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF FRP BRIDGE DECK SYSTEMS FROM ADHESIVELY BONDED PULTRUSIONS

摘要

This paper presents the structural analysis of a FRP composite bridge deck system. The fabrication and assembly of an adhesively bonded deck system composed of pultruded FRP box beams, FRP plates, and transverse steel rods for vehicular composite bridges is discussed. 3-D finite element analysis and structural tests are conducted to ensure the serviceability of the composite bridge deck system. Two kinds of FEA models are used in the analysis: A model that considers the bonded tube panel as an equivalent plate and a model that considers the panel as square tubes completely bonded together. Local analyses are provided and the following observations are made: (1) There are significant strain concentrations at the locations where the box beam sidewalk locate, which can not be described by the equivalent orthotropic plate theory. A revised analytical model is necessary to predict the observed phenomena for the FRP deck. (2) Local stress or strain criteria, in addition to global deck deflection criteria, should be imposed for the design of multicell thin-walled FRP decks. (3) The structure of the proposed deck system could be simplified to reduce fabrication costs by reducing the number of the transverse steel rods.