In fact, the Lee Road bridge repair took workers less than a day to complete what could have taken several weeks to do traditionally, Zureick said. With time and money at stake for highway departments nationwide, Zureick's team has been working intensely since their study began in early 1996. This work builds upon an extensive experimental and analytical research program assessing the strength of FRP for use in new construction and in structure rehabilitation since 1986. So far, laboratory tests have determined that FRP materials can make bridges 30 to 40 percent stronger than the original design. They are gathering long-term data and plan to estimate the benefits over a bridge's lifespan once all data are analyzed.
Fibers possess tremendous strength.
Additional FRP material laboratory tests conducted in an environmental chamber are addressing every potential aspect of bridge component behavior during the structure's lifespan, expected to be 75 years under current design criteria. Researchers are exposing components to extreme conditions, including humidity, temperature, salt and ultraviolet light. They will incorporate the durability data they collect into predictive models that will estimate FRP bridge component lifespan, Zureick said. Meanwhile, Georgia Tech researchers are assessing the condition of three Georgia bridges, including the Lee Road structure, that were selected by GDOT for FRP material tests. The other two bridges being tested are in Murray County near Dalton, Ga., and near St. Simons Island.