Design and analysis procedures for a novel fiber reinforced plastic bridge deck

In this paper a new conceptual design for highway bridges constructed from glass fiber reinforced plastic is described. The two component structure is fabricated using the filament winding process. A simplified analysis procedure is developed based on a Ritz solution of an equivalent orthotropic plate. This enables the designer to quickly study the effects of the various geometric and material parameters, and also provides the basis for formal design optimization. Three case studies are presented designing bridges for highway and pedestrian traffic, and comparing the performance of our concept with another composite bridge. The design appears to work well in a variey of situations, and has sufficient potential to warrant further investigation.