Concrete bridge barriers reinforced with glass fibre-reinforced polymer: static tests and pendulum impacts

Abstract

The behaviour of concrete bridge barriers reinforced with glass fibre-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars has been investigated at the University of Sherbrooke in collaboration with the Ministry of Transportation of Quebec (MTQ) through a two-phase research project. This paper presents the test results of MTQ Type 311 barrier prototypes under static (Phase I) and pendulum impact (Phase II) loading conditions. The test program included two full-scale 2.6 m long barrier prototypes for laboratory testing under static loads (Phase I) and four full-scale 11 m long barrier prototypes for field impact tests (Phase II). The laboratory static tests included one prototype totally reinforced with GFRP bars and one totally reinforced with steel bars for comparison, whereas the pendulum impact tests included two replicas totally reinforced with GFRP bars and another two totally reinforced with conventional steel bars. The barrier walls of the six prototypes were provided with the same reinforcement amount of GFRP and steel bars (No. 20 GFRP @ 200 mm and 20M steel bars @ 200 mm). The performance of the GFRP-reinforced concrete (GFRP-RC) barriers was evaluated and compared with that of their steel-RC counterparts. The results of this investigation revealed that the behaviour of the GFRP-RC concrete bridge barriers of MTQ Type 311 is similar to their steel-RC counterparts.