Failure analysis of fiber-reinforced polymer bridge deck system

Throughout the United States including New York, many reinforced concrete bridges on county and state highway systems have deteriorated to the certain degree that structural strengthening is necessary to extend their service life. Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composite systems appeared to be one of the options to address the issues of cost-effective load-rating improvement. Recently, an FRP deck has been installed on a state highway, located in New York State, as an experimental project. This paper describes multi-step linear static analyses that were conducted using the finite element method to study the possible failure mechanisms of the deck-superstructure system. Finite element model was verified using the load tests of the bridge deck. Furthermore, the thermal behavior of the FRP deck was investigated and presented in this paper. Analytical results reveal several potential failure mechanisms for the FRP deck and truss bridge system.