• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.349-360
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• 2012

This paper describes a detailed assessment of the structural safety, serviceability, capacity rating and long-term performance of a glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) slab bridge superstructure. This first all-GFRP slab bridge was installed in Korea on May 2002. The GFRP slab bridge is a simply supported, its length is 10.0 m, and is designed to carry two-lane traffic and has an overall width of 8.0m. The GFRP slab bridge is a sandwich structure with a corrugated core, fabricated by hand lay-up process with E-glass fibers and vinyl ester resins. The assessment of long-term performance for the GFRP slab bridge in 2004, 2011 includes a field load testing identical to that performed in 2002. The assessment indicates that the GFRP slab bridge has no structural problems and is structurally performing well in-service as expected. The assessment may provide a baseline data for the capacity ratings assessment of the GFRP slab bridge and also serve as part of a long-term performance of all-GFRP bridge superstructure.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.527-544
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• 2018

The paper presents the study on a change in modal parameters and structural stiffness of cable-stayed Fiberline Bridge made entirely of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) composite used for 20 years in the fjord area of Kolding, Denmark. Due to this specific location the bridge structure was subjected to natural aging in harsh environmental conditions. The flexural properties of the pultruded GFRP profiles acquired from the analyzed footbridge in 1997 and 2012 were determined through three-point bending tests. It was found that the Young's modulus increased by approximately 9%. Moreover, the influence of the temperature on the storage and loss modulus of GFRP material acquired from the Fiberline Bridge was studied by the dynamic mechanical analysis. The good thermal stability in potential real temperatures was found. The natural vibration frequencies and mode shapes of the bridge for its original state were evaluated through the application of the Finite Element (FE) method. The initial FE model was created using the real geometrical and material data obtained from both the design data and flexural test results performed in 1997 for the intact composite GFRP material. Full scale experimental investigations of the free-decay response under human jumping for the experimental state were carried out applying accelerometers. Seven natural frequencies, corresponding mode shapes and damping ratios were identified. The numerical and experimental results were compared. Based on the difference in the fundamental natural frequency it was again confirmed that the structural stiffness of the bridge increased by about 9% after 20 years of service life. Data collected from this study were used to validate the assumed FE model. It can be concluded that the updated FE model accurately reproduces the dynamic behavior of the bridge and can be used as a proper baseline model for the long-term monitoring to evaluate the overall structural response under service loads. The obtained results provided a relevant data for the structural health monitoring of all-GFRP bridge.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.5A
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• pp.719-727
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• 2008

The tensile and bond performance of GFRP rebar are different from those of conventional steel reinforcement. It requires some studies on concrete members reinforced with GFRP reinforcing bars to apply it to concrete structures. GFRP has some advantages such as high specific strength, low weight, non-corrosive nature, and disadvantage of larger deflection due to the lower modulus of elasticity than that of steel. Bridge deck is a preferred structure to apply FRP rebars due to the increase of flexural capacity by arching action. This paper focuses on the behavior of concrete bridge deck reinforced with newly developed GFRP rebars. A total of three real size bridge deck specimens were made and tested. Main variables are the type of reinforcing bar and reinforcement ratio. Static test was performed with the load of DB-24 level until failure. Test results were compared and analyzed with ultimate load, deflection behavior, crack pattern and width.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.217-223
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• 2008

Glass-fiber reinforced polyester (GFRP) composite material is a promising alternative to existing construction materials such as steel, concrete and wood due to light weight and high durability of GFRP composite material. If a temporary arch bridge is built by GFRP composite deck, rapid construction of the bridge and reuse of the GFRP composite deck are possible. In this paper, we develop a type of temporary arch bridges that can be built by easy assembling of GFRP composite decks. For this purpose, several possible types of temporary arch bridges are suggested and verified by finite element analysis.

• Proceedings of the Korea Concrete Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.49-52
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• 2008

The tensile and bond performance of GFRP rebar are different from those of conventional steel reinforcement. It requires some studies on concrete members reinforced with GFRP reinforcing bars to apply it to concrete structures. GFRP has some advantages such as high specific strength, low weight, non-corrosive nature, and disadvantage of larger deflection due to the lower modulus of elasticity than that of steel. Bridge deck is a preferred structure to apply FRP rebars due to the increase of flexural capacity by arching action. This paper focuses on the behavior of concrete bridge deck reinforced with newly developed GFRP rebar. A total of three real size bridge deck specimens were made and tested. Main variable was reinforcement ratio of GFRP rebar. Static test was performed with the load of DB-24 level until failure. Test results were compared and analyzed with ultimate load, deflection behavior.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.247-254
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• 2010

Due to lightweight and high durability of glass-fiber reinforced polyester (GFRP) materials, they are promising alternatives to conventional construction materials such as steel, concrete and wood. As good application examples of GFRP materials, several types of temporary arch bridges were suggested and verified by finite element analyses in our previous study where snap-fit GFRP decks were applied. In this paper, we conduct a structural performance test to verify safety and serviceability of the temporary arch bridge, where snap-fit GFRP decks are assembled by bolts. The structural problems occurred in this test are also discussed and improvement of temporary arch bridges is suggested to resolve the occurred structural problems.

• Proceedings of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute Conference
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• 2008.04a
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• pp.276-281
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• 2008

Glass-fiber reinforced polyester(GFRP) composite material is a promising alternative to existing construction materials such as steel, concrete and wood. One of passible applications of GFRP composite material is to build temporary bridges by assembling GFRP composite decks. In this paper, we develop a system of temporary arch bridges that can be built by easy assembling of GFRP composite decks. For this purpose, several types of temporary arch bridges are suggested and verified by FE analysis.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.2A
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• pp.311-318
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• 2006

This paper presents experimental studies on investigating the seismic retrofit performance of reinforced concrete circular columns with poor lap-splice details using GFRP wrapping. Five full-scale model columns have been tested. The prototype structure is an existing circular reinforced concrete bridge piers designed following the pre-seismic codes and constructed in South Korea in 1979. The as-built column will be expected to suffer brittle failure due to the bond failure of lap-spliced longitudinal reinforcement. The retrofitted columns using GFRP wrapping showed significant improvement of seismic performance. However, the predicted flexural failure mode was not achieved and the longitudinal bars were not yielded. Failure modes of the retrofitted columns are considered to be the gradually delayed bond slip in lap-spliced longitudinal reinforcement. Suggested retrofit design methods using GFRP were validated experimentally.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.641-657
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• 2020

A unique lightweight string truss deployable bridge assembled by thin-walled fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) and metal profiles was designed for emergency applications. As a new structure, investigations into the static structural performance under the serviceability limit state are desired for examining the structural integrity of the developed bridge when subjected to unsymmetrical loadings characterized by combined torsion and bending. In this study, a full-scale experimental inspection was conducted on a fabricated bridge, and the combined flexural-torsional behavior was examined in terms of displacement and strains. The experimental structure showed favorable strength and rigidity performances to function as deployable bridge under unsymmetrical loading conditions and should be designed in accordance with the stiffness criterion, the same as that under symmetrical loads. In addition, a finite element model (FEM) with a simple modeling process, which considered the multi segments of the FRP members and realistic nodal stiffness of the complex unique hybrid nodal joints, was constructed and compared against experiments, demonstrating good agreement. A FEM-based numerical analysis was thereafter performed to explore the effect of the change in elastic modulus of different FRP elements on the static deformation of the bridge. The results confirmed that the change in elastic modulus of different types of FRP element members caused remarkable differences on the bending and torsional stiffness of the hybrid bridge. The global stiffness of such a unique bridge can be significantly enhanced by redesigning the critical lower string pull bars using designable FRP profiles with high elastic modulus.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.543-550
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• 2007

As an emerging materials in construction fields, FRP(fiber reinforced polymer) has been used in many area of civil engineering for its light weight and high strength. In this study we chose the 2nd Jindo-Bridge as a prototype, and evaluate effect of replacing steel components to FRP components through simplified 3D linear analysis. Static and modal analysis are done and the analysis results are compared with steel case analysis. From the static analysis results, the maximum stress of each component and maximum displacement of middle span are compared. Due to the reduction of deadload, the FRP structure causes less deflection than the original steel structure and from the reduced section (cable) analysis we confirmed the previous result. The occurrence wind velocity of flutter is compared by the frequency ratio.