Experimental Campaign on the Full Scale FRP Motorway Bridge

We present the main results of an experimental campaign conducted at the ELSA laboratory of the Joint Research Centre on a hybrid-composite, fibre-reinforced, motorway bridge beam. The 14 metre long specimen is an identical prototype of the actual beams installed on a real (now functional) highway interchange roundabout in Madrid, Spain. The bridge ensemble consists of two 3×14 metre length, dual lane, two-way carriages capable of carrying fully laden heavy truck stock. The scope of the test campaign was to assess the design and ultimate capacity of the primary bridge beam and the participatory reinforced concrete deck system. The test set-up was designed to induce serviceability and limit loads in an isostatic manner, reflecting the primary load-bearing conditions within the context of the bridge as a whole (four parallel sets of three spans of simply supported beams connected by a reinforced concrete deck). In order to monitor the complex behaviour, the specimen was extensively instrumented with nearly two hundred channels – of which over one-hundred strain gauges – and stereoscopic photogrammetry with which to monitor in-(and out)-of-plane global displacements and buckling. The bridge beam-deck deflections during the deck grouting and subsequent curing were monitored for four weeks, after which the test campaign proper began with experimental modal analysis, followed by a comprehensive cyclic test campaign to confirm the serviceability and ultimate limit state of the bridge. The experiments were concluded with a test up to failure.

POLJANSEK Martin;  GUTIERREZ TENREIRO Eugenio;  PAULOTTO Carlo;  NAVARRO LERA Enrique; 

2013-03-25

NetComposites Limited

JRC68162

http://www.acic-conference.com/,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC68162,