Two different design problems are commonly encountered by highway bridge maintenance engineers: the upgrade of existing members to handle increased load demand, or the repair of bridge members which have experienced impact events due to overheight vehicles. This paper shows that through the use of carbon fiber reinforced (CFRP) materials highway bridge girders can be effectively strengthened or...

A new generation of concrete highway bridges has recently been built in Canada using new design concepts and advanced materials for reinforcing and prestressing concrete . This paper describes briefly the design and construction of three bridges. The first smart concrete highway bridge (Centre Street, Beddington Bridge, Calgary, Alberta) is prestressed by carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) ...

This investigation aims to study the flexural behaviour of reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened with near-surface mounted (NSM) carbon fibre polymer prestressed prisms (CFRP-PCPs). Eight RC were tested under monotonic loading until failure load was reached. One beam un-strengthened act as a control beam. The other seven non-prestressed or NSM CFRP-PCPs. effects bond length, prestress lev...

Guided wave detection using different fiber optic sensors and their applications in damage detection for composite laminates were systematically investigated and compared in this paper. Two types of fiber optic sensors, namely fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) and Doppler effect-based fiber optic (FOD) sensors, were addressed and guided wave detection systems were constructed for both types. Guided wa...

Beyond imaging the mass distribution of materials by X-ray absorption techniques recent synchrotron and laboratory X-ray refraction techniques provide interface contrast imaging of micro structures. This is of specific relevance to carbon fibre composites (CFRP) which constitute advanced aerospace components. Apart from merely finding isolated flaws like cracks or pores within the natural high ...

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are getting a wide range of application areas in bridge rehabilitations because these materials are less affected by corrosive environmental conditions, known to provide longer life and require less maintenance. However, there are still some concerns about their long-term performance because currently limited data exists. Moreover, the quality control a...

Accepting the challenge of the future in the field of civil engineering smart structure applications, the province of Manitoba is undertaking the responsibility of constructing the first bridge in Canada totally prestressed and reinforced for shear by cru:bon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) reinforcement. Portion of the concrete deck slab is also reinforced exclusively by FRP reinforcements. Th...