Strengthening of a Reinforced Concrete Bridge with a Composite of Prestressed Steel Wire Ropes Embedded in Polyurethane Cement

Abstract

This paper describes an innovative technique, a composite of prestressed steel wire ropes (PSWRs) embedded in polyurethan-cement composite (PUC), used to strengthen a 34-year-old reinforced T-beam bridge. PUC was mixed with polyurethane raw material and cement to provide good mechanical properties. Compared to using polymer mortar for PSWR strengthening, using PUC not only increased the durability of the steel wire ropes but also reinforced the main beams in the PSWR-PUC-strengthened composite. To study the effect of polyurethane cement, one span of the bridge was reinforced by a composite of PSWRs embedded in polymer mortar (PM). Static and dynamic load tests were carried out to test the corresponding responses of the experimental bridge. A finite-element model was used to verify the bridge test results. This study showed that the structural capacity and performance of the bridge were enhanced with PSWR-PUC strengthening. Compared with PSWR-PM reinforced spans with more prestressed steel wire ropes, PSWR-PUC reinforced spans retained good structural capacity.