Corrosion Resistance Of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer

America`s infrastructure has been a concern for years, but as populations begin to grow and structures begin to become outdated the problem has become more urgent. One focus of this infrastructure problem is bridges, which are growing weaker causing economic and social concerns. The primary controversy around these bridge failures is what is causing them and the potential they have to cause disasters. Moreover, this potential is why Americans should invest more into their infrastructure.

Steel frame structures are made as the name suggest from steel, the material is strong and flexible. When weight is added it bends without cracking. Another characteristic of steel is that its plasticity or ductility, meaning that when force is added it won’t crack however it will lose shape therefore giving warning for people to evacuate the building. A disadvantage of steel is that is loses strength when subject to fire. Studies have shown that it can loose up- to half its strength when subject to fire, therefore making it imperative to cover the steel with boards or spray on.

When bridges are poorly constructed, they may fail due to load they carry, collision by derailed trains or even by vehicles that lose control leading to catastrophic incidences. However, if bridges are well-constructed, the chances or injury are greatly minimized in the event of an accident. Discussed in the subsections are the requirements of AS 5100 standards in relation to cable-stayed bridges and include design requirements for bridges, bridge aesthetics, bridge functional requirements, bridge component design requirements and bridge construction

ACI 318-63 requires that the minimum ratio of longitudinal bars shall be at least 1.0%. Also, The vertical center-to-center spacing of the lateral ties shall be one of the smallest of: (1) 16 longitudinal bar diameters to restrain longitudinal bars from buckling, (2) 48 tie diameters to ensure sufficient tie area to restrain the lateral displacement of the reinforcing bars, and (3) the least lateral dimension of the column to develop the maximum strength of the concrete core. As shown in Fig. 1, The dimensions and steel reinforcement details of the columns involved in this experimental program were particularly selected to represent relatively older columns. In this experimental program, the longitudinal reinforcement ratio, ρl, was constant

Upfront concrete is the cheaper option which sounds good for the people paying for it, but in the long run steel is more economical. Steel bridges are re-buildable, damage to a steel bridge is more noticeable, it takes a shorter time to build a steel bridge and Steel is more durable than concrete. All signs point to steel being the best choice for a bridge to be as effective as possible. “Steel spans last longer than concrete ones. Those built by eight mostly European firms under the PBP are rated for 80-100 years”

As the human body ages, it becomes more fragile. America’s infrastructure is nearly the same. With the everyday use of many large structures, such as bridges, buildings, and other large structures made of concrete and/or steel, many are beginning to wither away while the average American is unaware of these changes. In many projects around the world, there is a material that is being commonly used to strengthen structures known as Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP). The types of structures that this material can help to strengthen includes, but is not limited to, reinforced concrete columns, bridge girders, steel structures, and cable

In 1989, an earthquake caused the top deck of the bridge to collapse. This has raised concern in recent years in the case of a large scale earthquake. During an inspection in September of 2009, a 1.5 inch crack was found in a structural truss called an eyebar. The system of the truss is meant to distribute report will describe the tensile load from the weight of the bridge over 4 eyebars. One of them being broken, this same load was now distributed between only 3 eyebars. Because these eyebars were not designed to carry extra load, it became crucially important to repair the eyebar as soon as possible. However, because the bridge is so old, its mechanisms were more complex than what would be designed now in the current day. The engineering company C.C. Myers was contracted to do the repair. C.C Myers decided to repair the eyebar by welding a crossbar to the saddles which had been placed on each end of the broken eyebar (Alfrey, 2010). Four tie rods were then bolted to distribute the tensile load (Reid, 2010). This repair was completed in only 70 hours (Carlsen,

In order to create a column-free space, designers and engineers opted to use free spanning composite glue-laminated (glulam) wood-steel arches supported by inclined concrete buttresses (Chodikoff, 2009). For the arches, the glulam slabs were made from engineered timbers consisting of wood laminations bonded together with strong, waterproof adhesives, resulting in a structural component as strong as steel. To increase the lateral stiffness, and assist in carrying the bending stresses from unbalanced snow loading, each arch has steel components anchoring the glulam slabs – resulting in a composite glulam wood-steel arch (Gregory, 2010). The use of glulam for the arches allowed for the roof’s large 100-metre span and curved element to be produced (Dietsch, 2011).

Concrete one of the most common and appropriate material in building a bridge. Concrete is strong in compression but weak in tension. However, concrete embedded with steel bars, known as reinforced concrete, serves as a solution for the steel carries all the tension. Less concrete will be used with reinforced concrete and the concrete that is used protects the steel from fire and corrosion.

Our group created a Pratt bridge design in order to maximize our efficiency with the limited amount of resources we were given. We also chose this type of bridge because it was simple and allowed for us to complete it within the given time frame. Our bridge was constructed using ⅛” x ⅛” balsa wood sticks, string, cardboard, paper, and a lot of hot glue. The balsa wood was used to make the frame, the cardboard was used to act as a level plane for the cans to stand on and as reinforcement for the sides of the bridge, and the paper and string were both used to construct the remaining roadbed. Balsa wood was used for the frame because it acts as a sturdy foundation. Cardboard was used as a level place to set our cans because of how smooth, flat, and sturdy it is. Cardboard was also used and attached to the sides of our bridge, as well as some of the joints, because it is very sturdy and does not pull apart or flex easily. Lastly, we used string and paper for the

The implementation costs of the recycled tire mats is also unknown but what is known is that the tire mats last longer and require less repair than the riprap. They last on average 32 years. That is 12 years longer than the riprap and will therefore cost that much less when taking all costs into consideration. Due to its robust material and hydrodynamic design, the Scouring ramp is expected to have a significantly longer life-span than the tradition Rip-Rap approach. Our suggested material for the ramps are similar in strength and oxidation-resistant properties as the high-strength steel that makes up TLP tendons of deep-water oil platforms. The metals used for these anchors can withstand strong ocean currents as wells as oxygen-based corrosion. The life-span of the ramps if made from the same grade of steel is estimated to last a minimum of 32 years. The tire mats are expected to have an extremely long-life span due to rubber strength of car tires. Hence the tire-mats are expected to share the same life-span of the entire bridge itself.

The comparison of measurement and prediction of prestress losses in prestressed members is highly documented in literature. Hale et al. (2006) studied the prestress losses behavior of girders subjected to increased fiber stresses. They concluded that the previous AASHTO LRFD Specifications equations (2004) overestimated the prestress losses by roughly 50%. It was found that the NCHRP Report 496 (Tadros et al., 2003) equations predicted the losses to within an average of 6%. Currently, there have been quite a few investigations on empirical models for prestress losses for HSC. In a study conducted by Kowalsky et al. (2001) on several HPC bridge girders in North Carolina to determine the prestress losses of HPC girders. The researchers found shrinkage losses were a small component of the overall prestress losses and that the elastic shortening and creep losses were the main contributors. These larger than expected losses from elastic shortening and creep were because of a predicted modulus of elasticity that was higher than actual. The total prestress losses ranged from 12.9% to 19.1% of the initial jacking stress. In an investigation conducted by Tadros et al. (2003), seven full-scale bridge girders were instrumented in Washington, Texas, Nebraska and New Hampshire to determine the prestress losses of HPC girders. The total prestress losses measured were found to be lower than the AASHTO LRFD (1998) model. Modified expressions were proposed to AASHTO and later adopted in

The bridge has a very well designed ‘sustainability’ concept, relying on upcycled materials to complete the bridge. These upcycled materials consist of the wood, the fishing net, the oil barrels and the plastic shielding for the barrels. These materials can be used for functional roles in the design, such as platforms, floatation, safety lines across hand rails, and so on. The bridge’s sustainability concept can be further supported by the ease of replacing materials, and not throwing them in the bin. The materials such as wood, plastic and pieces of metallic bolts and nuts can be recycled and reused for other purposed such as furniture, storage or completely recycled back into a molten form for the metallic objects.

Fiberglass reinforced concrete (GFRC) is most suitable for construction because it is a great material for restoration of old buildings and also used for the exterior of the buildings. It is also being used widely for walls and ceilings. GFRC allow almost perfect replication of building terra-cotta and ornaments. It’s very low shrinkage allows molds to be made from existing structural ornamentation, then cast in GFRC to replicate the original designs. GFRC is lightweight compared to other traditional concrete which is very important for construction. It is highly durable and safe. Next, expensive equipment is not necessary for pouring or spraying GFRC .Fiberglass is inexpensive and corrosion-proof, but not as ductile as steel. It can only be

Because of advancements in today’s technology in construction field, many types of bridges are being constructed depending on the requirement and their suitability for the situations.