FRP STRENGTHENS DECKS, CONCRETE : TESTING AND MONITORING FRP BRIDGE DECKS AND OTHER COMPONENTS PROVES MATERIAL'S VALUE

Testing, sensors, and a monitoring plan can help bridge engineers in evaluating a bridges performance. This article first focuses on the Bridge Street Bridge in Southfield, Michigan, the first major concrete vehicular bridge incorporating carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer as its principal structural reinforcement. The bridge is being studied in a project which has the objective of demonstrating that using composite material as structural reinforcement can increase a bridges service life, enhance public safety, and reduce maintenance costs. The article also discusses the Shuyler Heim Bridge, chosen by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) as a demonstration project in which part of the bridges steel deck is replaced with polymer composite material. The bridge will be outfitted with an instrumentation and monitoring program for measuring strain, deflection, and environmental conditions including temperature, humidity, and exposure to solar radiation. In addition, the instrumentation is designed to provide a manual mode for monitoring seasonal load tests, an automated mode for monitoring long term effects from environmental changes, and an alarm condition mode for alerting staff when response values in specific sensors reach predetermined levels.