Impact of elevated temperature on the behavior of full-scale concrete bridge deck slabs reinforced with GFRP bars

The fiber reinforced polymer (FRP)-concrete composite bridge deck is expected to be a competitive alternative to the reinforced concrete bridge deck owing to its great durability, low weight, and high loading efficacy. The advantages of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) reinforcement in relation to heated damaged full-scale concrete bridge deck slabs encourage the extension of knowledge regarding the possibilities of combining the GFRP and heated damaged concrete to use the synergy of benefits that can be achieved in the construction and/ or rehabilitation of bridges. This study presents a three-dimensional nonlinear finite element analysis (NLFEA) simulating the response of full-scale concrete bridge deck slabs reinforced with GFRP bars. A control slab model was developed initially and properly calibrated and validated against published independent experimental re-sults. A parametric study was then conducted through creating twenty-four NLFEA models with different pa-rameters: type of reinforcement (GFRP and steel), bottom transverse reinforcement ratio (rho of 0.38, 0.46, and 0.57), and elevated temperature (20 ?C, 100 ?C, 200 ?C, and 300 ?C). The GFRP bars reinforcement of bridge deck slabs had superior effects on the ultimate load, elastic stiffness, post cracking stiffness, elastic energy ab-sorption and post cracking energy and a little impact on ultimate deflection compared with steel reinforcement and the efficiency of GFRP bars increased with the heated damage level. Punching shear failure with a very similar cracking pattern was observed almost in all slabs and the bottom transverse reinforcement ratio is the main parameter affecting the tensile strains.

Automated summary

The fiber reinforced polymer (FRP)-concrete composite bridge deck, especially the glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) reinforcement, shows great potential in enhancing the performance of concrete bridge decks. This study conducted a finite element analysis to simulate the response of GFRP-reinforced concrete bridge deck slabs under different parameters. The results showed that GFRP bars reinforcement had superior effects on load, stiffness, and energy absorption compared to steel reinforcement, and the efficiency of GFRP bars increased with the level of heated damage.