The lack of availability of design guidelines and technical data for the use of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) reinforcements has contributed significantly to the delay in using composites materials in prestressed concrete bridges in the US.
Consequently, no single prestressed concrete bridge using CFRP has been constructed or even considered by any government agency. As a result, the use of CFRP reinforcements in the US has been limited to research activities and subsequent technical publications. The proposed research program is tailored to develop design guidelines to aid the designers to safely design CFRP prestressed structural components, and to construct a one-half scale bridge model and two prestressed concrete girders and test them under different loading conditions. The proposed investigation will result in technical data that will be adopted in the construction of the first authorized CFRP prestressed concrete bridge inn the US. Furthermore, future prestressed concrete bridge projects that will be undertaken by the supporting state agencies will benefit significantly from the generated data.
