Repair of GFRP-Reinforced Concrete Bridge Barriers

The Canadian highway bridge design code provides dimensions and reinforcement detailing of concrete bridge barriers reinforced with glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars. However, there are no guidelines on the repair of such concrete elements in case of damage caused by vehicle accidents. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and efficiency of available techniques to repair damaged GFRP-RC bridge barriers. To fulfill this objective, three full-scale, 6.0-m-long, PL-2 concrete bridge barriers, totally reinforced with GFRP bars, were constructed and tested under an equivalent static load, simulating a vehicle crash test. Two different repair techniques, planting and near-surface-mounted (NSM) fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) bars, were used to repair the damaged barriers. Repaired barriers were retested under similar conditions to evaluate the effectiveness of the repair techniques. It is concluded that the repaired GFRP-RC bridge barriers achieved similar capacities to their counterpart control (undamaged) barriers.