INVESTIGATION OF STRUCTURAL BEHAVIORS OF GFRP REINFORCED BRIDGE DECK UNDER DYNAMIC TRAFFIC LOADS

As crucial structural components in bridge structures, bridge deck slabs played an important role in integral structural behaviours and transportation. However, with the increasing of ages in services, the durability of reinforced concrete bridge deck slabs was influenced significantly by carbonation and corrosion. Due to the high corrosion-resistance ability in Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymers (GFRP), this reinforcement type is developing to be promising alternative reinforcement construction materials for concrete bridge decks currently. In the investigation of structural behaviours of concrete bridge deck slabs reinforced with Glass Fiber-Polymer Bars (GFRP Bars) under transportation loads, nonlinear finite element analysis (NLFEA) on this structural type were carried out with consideration of compressive membrane action (CMA). In the study of existing GFRP reinforced concrete bridge deck slabs, current design standard and numerical results, it was found that the real required reinforcement percentage was lower than that predicted by design methods. Based on the good correlation between NLFEA and experimental tests, the serviceability of a GFRP reinforced concrete bridge deck slabs with consideration of CMA was investigated. The good structural behaviours were observed in the analysis of these non-metallic bridges under dynamic transportation loads.