Rehabilitation of transportation infrastructure in West Virginia with FRP wraps

Abstract

Transportation infrastructure in the United States, particularly concrete highway bridges, are gradually exposed to the deleterious effects of environmental attacks, leading to environmental degradation of the concrete materials. This is due to, for example, carbonation and chloride contamination that eventually break the alkali barrier in the cement matrix, and the steel reinforcement in the concrete becomes susceptible to corrosion. As a consequence, the concrete may deteriorate at the reinforcement level, leading to cracking and spalling of the concrete owing to volume increase of the steel reinforcement. One solution to overcome steel corrosion in concrete for new construction is to use Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) materials for internal reinforcements instead of steel. More significant is the beneficial application of FRP for structural rehabilitation of deteriorated concrete structures. FRP composite materials in the form of fabrics, laminates, and bars have been externally bonded to concrete structures to increase structural capacity and provide longer service-life. The application of this technology in practice has been highly successful. This paper presents few case studies of the use of FRP composites for rehabilitating bridge structures in the state of West Virginia. Cost of few FRP-wrap projects by West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) and other state DOTs is addressed. Details of few FRP-retrofitted projects in West Virginia are provided. Purpose of the FRP wraps and retrofit details are documented. Overall conditions of all highway bridges in the state of West Virginia are reported. These data are extracted from the latest National Bridge Inventory by U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration.