Strength and Durability of Near-Surface Mounted CFRP Bars for Shear Strengthening Reinforced Concrete Bridge Girders

摘要

During the interstate expansion of the 1950s, many conventionally reinforced concrete deck girder bridges were built throughout the country. These aging bridges commonly exhibit diagonal cracking and rate inadequately for shear, thus they are candidates for shear strengthening to extend their useful life. Carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) are emerging as effective materials for strengthening and rehabilitating such bridges. Near surface mounting (NSM) is a newer technique for application of CFRP for retrofitting bridge members that provides advantages over other strengthening techniques. The technique is still new and uncertainties remain regarding strength, long-term durability, and design including the influence of member proportions, flexural reinforcing steel, and CFRP spacing. Bridge girders retrofitted with NSM-CFRP may be exposed to millions of load cycles and environmental conditions and the influence of these exposures on performance are not established. To address these issues, laboratory tests were performed on ten full-size reinforced concrete girders, representative of in-situ bridge members, to determine the performance of NSM-CFRP retrofitting for shear strengthening. One of the specimens was exposed to fatigue loading, two were subjected to environmental exposures, and one was subjected to combined environmental exposure and fatigue loading. Results indicated that NSM-CFRP retrofitting provided significant shear capacity increases, and the high-cycle fatigue and environmental exposures considered did not adversely affect the strength or behavior of the girders. Environmental exposures of some of the adhesives considered did show somewhat reduced performance; therefore, careful selection of materials is important to ensure performance over the expected lifetime. Recommendations for shear strength design with NSM-CFRP are made.