Life-cycle performance model for FRP bridge deck panels

Abstract

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) bridge deck panels have been used to replace deteriorated conventional bridge decks over the last few decades. However, there are still concerns on the overall long-term durability of FRP bridge deck panels under severe load and environmental conditions. In particular, FRP bridge deck panels are exposed to multiple environmental conditions (i.e. moisture, alkali environment, thermal, creep/relaxation, fatigue, ultraviolet exposure, and fire) during their service lifetime, which causes the synergistic degradation mechanism. Although some experimental research have been performed to determine the synergistic mechanism, none has considered the simultaneous impact of multiple load and environmental factors on the life cycle performance of an FRP bridge deck. Thus, it is important to model deterioration of FRP bridge deck panels to determine the synergistic mechanism and its impact on the service life. This article proposes the life-cycle performance model that is capable of predicting the structural deterioration of FRP bridge deck panels over time under the conditions discussed earlier. A complete description of the life-cycle performance model is presented along with a dataset obtained from experts in the field of FRP composite materials in order to illustrate the procedure and validate the logic of the theoretical model, as well as the feasibility of the results obtained.