The emphasis in bridge design and construction technology in the UK has shifted in recent decades towards improved durability and quick construction, with whole life cost and low maintenance gradually becoming as important as initial capital cost. In conjunction with this, reduced disruption to the travelling public has become more important due to general increased travel and congestion on roads and railways. The combination of these two factors was a primary driver in the development of fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite bridge technology, which can provide improved durability and also reduced time of in-situ construction due to large, lightweight components being manufactured off-site (modular construction) and installed simply and quickly. The growth in the application of FRP bridges in the UK is described and highlighted with a number of representative case studies, generally showing the benefits of this technology in reducing whole life cost and disruption to the public. The future work required to further enable the development of FRP bridge technology is described, with the aim of FRP bridges becoming a mainstream competitor to other bridge materials and technologies.
The current paper describes the use of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites as primary structural members. In particular FRP composite bridge decks are discussed and the Asset project, which comprised the development of a FRP composite bridge deck system, is described in detail. The analysis, design and testing undertaken within the project are also discussed in detail. The culmination of the project, the reconstruction of West Mill Bridge in Oxfordshire, is described and conclusions made on the particular advantages of using FRP composites for bridge decks.
2 3In October 2002 the first all-fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite bridge on the public highway network in Europe, West Mill Bridge, UK, was installed. The design and construction of this bridge was the culmination of a 4-year EU research project called Asset, to develop a heavy-duty FRP bridge decking system for use in repairing, upgrading and new civil infrastructure. As part of this project, a monitoring system was installed on the bridge during fabrication. In addition to an initial controlled load test on installation of the bridge, further controlled load tests using a 30 t lorry have been undertaken after 3 years and 8 years. The results from these load tests confirmed the medium-term structural behaviour to be essentially unchanged from the original structural behaviour. In particular, a high level of composite action between the glass fibre reinforced polymer deck, FRP main beams, and concrete parapet beams was still present after 8 years of service.
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