Behavior of Three-Dimensionally Woven Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymeric Bridge Deck

摘要

In the past two decades, glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) bridge decks have been considered as an alternative to conventional steel and concrete bridge decking. The study presented in this paper investigated the behavior of a new and innovative 3-D woven GFRP bridge deck. The proposed deck consisted of two skins of E-glass fabric and vertical webs to act as flexural members supported by the girders. Each skin consisted of two orthogonal woven fabrics which were stitched together by fibers in the perpendicular direction to form a 3-D GFRP material for the entire cross section. Balsa cores were inserted to maintain the configuration of the cross section during the vacuum infusion process using epoxy resin. This paper focused on the behavior of two types of decks: GFRP bridge deck and GFRP-concrete hybrid deck. The fundamental material characteristics of the 3-D woven GFRP materials used, including the tension, flexure, and shear, are presented. The limit state behaviors of the two decks are discussed. A comparison of the behavior of the panels infused with vinyl ester and epoxy are presented. The paper discusses also the various type of shear connectors used to achieve the composite action between the GFRP cross section and the top concrete layer. Use of the 3-D woven material eliminates the delamination failure observed for some of the current commercially available GFRP bridge decks.