INVESTIGATION OF STRUCTURAL BEHAVIOURS IN CONCRETE BRIDGE DECK SLABS REINFORCED BY GFRP BARS WITH CONSIDERATION OF COMPRESSIVE MEMBRANE ACTION

With increasing of ages in service, the durability of reinforced concrete bridge deck slabs became significantly influenced by corrosion. Due to the high corrosion-resistance ability in Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polymers (GFRP), this reinforcement type is developing to be a promising alternative reinforcement construction material for concrete bridge decks. This paper reveals the study of structural behaviours of GFRP reinforced concrete bridge deck slabs through nonlinear finite element analysis (NLFEA) with consideration of compressive membrane action (CMA). In the comparison of current design standards, it was found that, due to CMA, the loading capacities were far larger than those predicted by traditional methods. Based on the previous research on bridge deck slabs, finite element models were established and used to be compared with experimental tests. According to the accurate validation results, the analysis results are discussed and conclusions on the compressive membrane action in the bridge decks are presented.