Development of Prefabricated Bridge Girder System with Closure Strips Incorporating GFRP Ribbed-Surface Bars

摘要

This paper investigates the use of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars to reinforce the bridge deck slabs as well as precast bridge deck slab joints in prefabricated bridge bulb-tee pre-tensioned girders. Three slab joint details were developed incorporating GFRP bars with or without headed ends embedded in a closure strip filled with non-shrink cement grout or ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC). Three actual-size specimens were cast representing the proposed joint details. In addition, other two control cast-in-place specimens were cast, namely: reinforced-steel specimen and GFRP-reinforced specimen. Results show the cast-in-place deck slab reinforced with GFRP reinforcement ratio specified by CHBDC is as good as a similar slab reinforced with CHBDC-specified reinforcing-steel ratio. In addition, the closure strip filled with UHPC showed higher strength than other joint configurations considered in this study. Failure of the joints was observed to be primarily due to concrete crushing, with debonding of the GFRP bar whether with straight of headed ends embedded in the closure strip.