Masters Theses

Prakash Kumar

Abstract

“Application of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) pultruded sections for civil engineering applications in infrastructure is rapidly increasing. Composite members may potentially provide more durable replacements for steel and concrete in primary and secondary bridge structures, but significant amount of work still needs to be done before the application of composites in infrastructure applications can become a routine. This research work contributes towards achieving that goal.

An extensive experimental and analytical program was carried out to obtain and compare properties (stiffness, strength, failure modes) of 76 mm (3 in) square hollow pultruded glass FRP tubes and their assemblies which were used in the fabrication of an all-composite bridge deck designed for H-20 truckloads as specified by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). All the coupons were tested in three- or four-point bending. Experimental results show excellent linear elastic flexural and shear behavior up to failure. A quarter portion of the full-size bridge deck was then tested for its structural performance under design and fatigue loading and also for ultimate load capacity to evaluate the bridge response under H-20 loading. The characteristics of the full-size bridge deck were determined by analyzing the tests performed on relatively smaller sections of the same design.

Based on results of the present research, all-composite bridge decks made of pultruded glass and carbon FRP tubes is judged to be a suitable replacement for bridges made of conventional materials”—Abstract, page iv.

Advisor(s)

Chandrashekhara, K.
Nanni, Antonio

Committee Member(s)

Tsai, Hai-Lung

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Degree Name

M.S. in Mechanical Engineering

Comments

The author would like to acknowledge the Missouri Department of Transportation, National Science Foundation - CRCD program, Lemay Center for Composites Technology, and University Transportation Center of University of Missouri at Rolla for providing the financial support and Composite Products Inc., for providing the samples.

Publisher

University of Missouri--Rolla

Publication Date

Summer 2000

Journal article titles appearing in thesis/dissertation

  • Testing and evaluation of components for a composite bridge deck

  • Structural performance of a FRP bridge deck

Pagination

x, 75 pages

Note about bibliography

Includes bibliographical references.

Rights

© 2000 Prakash Kumar, All rights reserved.

Document Type

Thesis - Restricted Access

File Type

text

Language

English

Thesis Number

T 7802

Print OCLC #

45686753

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