Composite Structures 81 (2007) 622628

www.elsevier.com/locate/compstruct

Field and laboratory performance of a rectangular shaped glass

ber reinforced polymer deck
Jinwoo Jeong *, Young-Ho Lee, Ki-Tae Park, Yoon-Koog Hwang
Structure Research Department, Korea Institute of Construction Technology, 2311 Daehwa-Dong, Ilsanseo-Gu, Goyang-Si, Gyonggi-Do, Republic of Korea
Available online 28 December 2006

Abstract
Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have been favorably noticed as state-of-the art construction materials, but sucient material and structural data about FRP applications are not available. This study was intended to evaluate the applications and safety of FRP
deck systems, which are developed by laboratory testing (static and fatigue tests), eld application and testing of glass ber reinforced
polymer (GFRP) deck systems made of glass ber and vinyl ester resin. The results show that the developed FRP deck systems have the
expected strength and stiness to replace the existing systems. FRP deck systems can eectively shorten the construction time and reduce
the equipment required. In addition, it is determined that there is a need to evaluate the long-term structural behavior and durability of
FRP deck systems in order to obtain comprehensive data for preparing the future design, manufacturing and construction materials.
 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: GFRP; Pultrusion; Bridge deck; Field test

1. Introduction
Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites are a stateof-the-art construction material, an alternative to traditional materials such as concrete, steel and wood. Among
many applications of FRP in civil infrastructures, bridge
decks have received much attention because of their light
weight, high strength-to-weight ratio, and corrosion resistance. Other advantages of FRP bridge decks are their
reduction in bridge deck construction time and increase
in service life. However, the FRP bridge decks also have
disadvantages such as a low modulus of elasticity translating into increased deections, greater initial expense, and
unfamiliarity to many engineers and constructors. Thus,
further research, development and validation of the FRP
deck systems are necessary in order to optimize and standardize them so that they can be widely adopted in the

Corresponding author. Tel.: +82 31 910 0583; fax: +82 31 910 0121.
E-mail address: jwjeong@kict.re.kr (J. Jeong).

0263-8223/$ - see front matter  2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.compstruct.2006.12.013

industry. Currently, there is a lack of comprehensive data

on the long-term response, and there is a need to provide
cost-eective and ecient means of construction, nondestructive evaluation and health monitoring of these systems in the eld.
In a previous study [13], a GFRP composite bridge
deck system assembled from a modular prole with a double-rectangular cell was developed and the performance of
the GFRP composite deck module and deck-to-girder connection system was estimated by experiments and numerical analysis. The rectangular dual-cell prole was formed
through a pultrusion process with E-glass ber embedded
in a vinyl ester resin. The dimensions of the unit module
are shown in Fig. 1 and the thicknesses of the top ange,
bottom ange and web of the deck are 18, 16, and
11 mm, respectively.
This paper describes the eld application and test for a
GFRP deck consisting of multiple FRP box beams after
laboratory testing. A numerical analysis by the nite element program ABAQUS [4] has also been performed for
verication.

J. Jeong et al. / Composite Structures 81 (2007) 622628

399.5
149

z(y)

x(x)

5.5

79.5

11

5.5

16

y(z)

0
R2

18

149

182
200

79.5

(Unit : mm)

623

(CSMs) made of randomly oriented short bers resulting in

nearly isotropic in-plane properties, (2) multi-axial stitched
fabrics, and (3) rovings. The multi-axial stitched fabrics
shown in Table 1 are a new reinforcement fabric with
multi-orientations combining the longitudinal (0), transverse (90), and double bias (45) directions, constructed
with straight bers and stitched together through the thickness direction to enhance the interlamina properties of
composites. In this study, the ber system of the decks
shown in Fig. 2 was designed by Double Bias Transverse
(DBT) series, single-end rovings and chopped strand mats.
2.3. Material properties

Fig. 1. Dimensions of unit module.

2. Material design and properties

2.1. Preliminary research
Based on the results of the preliminary study performed
at the Korea Institute of Construction Technology [1], the
value of the standard design truckload (DB-24) was
assumed for a design live load. In addition, the self-weight
of the superstructure including the asphalt wearing surface
was considered to be the dead load. The overall design process used was the deection limits since the exural stiness
of the GFRP is relatively low. The deection limit of L/800
and the ultimate safety factor of ve given in the Federal
Highway Administration (FHWA) were employed.
Although the local buckling is not a failure mode, a safety
factor of two was employed to ensure safety against buckling. The total height of the deck was limited to 200 mm so
that the proposed deck could be used for the deck renewal
projects. Using the proposed cross-sectional proles, a
GFRP deck prototype of a steel I-girder bridge was
designed in the preliminary study. The simply supported,
single-span bridge consists of a deck of 12.14 m width
and is supported by ve 40 m-long steel girders spaced at
2.5 m.
Designing the deck prole, a trapezoidal cross-sectional
shape was identied as an optimal section for multi-cellular
shapes. The structural performance of the trapezoidal and
the rectangular sections is similar. However, if the proposed deck-to-girder connection [3] is considered, the rectangular one may be more eective for practical
applications.

The properties of many composite materials are strongly

dependent on the arrangement and distribution of the ber
(ber architecture). The constituent materials used for the
GFRP deck consist of E-glass bers and vinyl ester resin,
and their properties are listed in Table 2. Micromechanics
(rules of mixtures) [5] is used to estimate the mechanical

Table 1
Layer construction
Fabrics

Series

Stacking
sequences

Series

Stacking
sequences

Uniaxial
Biaxial and double
bias
Triaxial
Quadriaxial

L
LT

[0]
[0/90]

T
DB

[90]
[45/ 45]

DBL
DBLT

[0/45/ 45]
[0/45/90/ 45]

DBT

[45/90/ 45]

(a)

DBT 2100/CSM300 (320mm)

Roving 8800 TEX (85 Strand)
DBT 2100/CSM300 (320mm)
Roving 8800 TEX (85 Strand)
DBT 2100/CSM300 (320mm)
DBT 2100/CSM300 (310mm)
Roving 8800 TEX (48 Strand)
DBT 2100/CSM300 (320mm)
Roving 8800 TEX (48 Strand)
DBT 2100/CSM300 (320mm)
Roving 8800 TEX (48 Strand)

(b)
2.2. Fiber architecture

Top flange (18mm)

Web (11mm)
DBT 2100/CSM300 (160mm)
Roving 8800 TEX (34 Strand)

The composite will generally have anisotropic properties

unless randomly orientated ber arrays are used, in which
case the composite will exhibit quasi-isotropic properties.
The direction of the ber such as unidirectional or bi-directional or angle ply determines the strength and stiness of
the composite. A typical pultruded section mainly includes
the following three types of layer: (1) chopped strand mats

DBT 2100/CSM300 (160mm)

Roving 8800 TEX (34 Strand)
DBT 2100/CSM300 (160mm)
Roving 8800 TEX (34 Strand)
DBT 2100/CSM300 (160 mm)
Fig. 2. Stacking sequences of: (a) top ange and (b) web.

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J. Jeong et al. / Composite Structures 81 (2007) 622628

Table 2
Properties of the constituent materials

Table 5
Strength of GFRP deck

Materials

E (GPa)

G (GPa)

q (g/cm3)

Components

Xt (MPa)

Xc (MPa)

Yt (MPa)

Yc (MPa)

S (MPa)

E-glass ber
Vinyl ester resin

72.5
3.66

27.6
1.2

0.22
0.38

2.54
1.14

Flanges
Web

335.3
325.7

177.3
141.3

84.1
68.4

89.9
89.2

64.2
95.9

Components

E1 (GPa)

E2 (GPa)

G12 (GPa)

m12

wf (%)

Flanges
Web

29.21
32.76

5.65
6.11

1.86
2.01

0.32
0.31

56.8
62.0

Table 4
Laminate properties (CLT)
Components

Ex (GPa)

Ey (GPa)

mxy

Gxy (GPa)

Top ange
Web
Bottom ange

14.94
17.42
14.93

14.05
14.05
14.40

0.27
0.30
0.25

4.07
4.72
3.92

properties of the lamina shown in Table 3 from the known

values of the properties of the ber and the resin.
Based on the stacking sequences shown in Fig. 2, the
material properties of moderately thick laminated plates
having constituents of various compositions were predicted
in Table 4 using the classical lamination theory (CLT) [5].
In this calculation, the ber direction of the CSM is randomly distributed with short bers, and is assumed to be
quasi-isotropic. The ber direction of the fabrics with
DBT architecture follows the stacking sequence given in
Table 1. The rovings are assumed to be unidirectional
bers.
For numerical calculations, the type of nite element
used in the analysis is an eight-node laminated shell element with reduced integration and six degrees-of-freedom
per node (S8R). It is assumed that all parts of the deck system are perfectly bonded together. The TsaiHill failure
criterion [5] is used in order to predict the failure load of
the deck using the strength of the GFRP deck shown in
Table 5, which provides the results of the coupon test. Xt
and Xc indicate tensile and compressive strength in the xdirection as shown in Fig. 1, in which the Cartesian coordinate in parentheses indicates one of the webs. Yt and
Yc are the tensile and compressive strengths, respectively,
in the y-direction. S is the in-plane shear strength.
3. Laboratory test
In order to evaluate the structural performances of the
FRP module as a preliminary study for the test construction and eld evaluation of the developed FRP deck systems, the exural test of longitudinal and transverse
directions and the buckling test for evaluating a web
directly supporting a vehicles load transferred to wheels
were also performed [6].

In this study, the static and fatigue tests were also performed to evaluate the ultimate performances and fatigue
performances of the FRP deck systems. To test the ultimate performances of FRP deck systems, as seen in
Fig. 3, the boundary condition was xed with lower girder
and bolts. For the loading test, a loading plate of
230 mm 580 mm, considered to be the area of the design
axial load was used and a load test by displacement control
method (0.25 mm/min) was performed. The same test specimen as was used for the static load test was used for the
fatigue test. It has a maximum load of 117.6 kN, a minimum load of 19.6 kN and a load range of 98 kN, which
is the axial load of DB-24, in which the maximum load
was calculated by applying a impact factor of 1.2 to the
designed axial load. The test was repeated up to 2 million
times at 1 Hz loading speed.
The results of the ultimate load test are shown in the
loaddisplacement graph in Fig. 4. Compared to the nite
element analysis, the failure load was 431.2 kN and the

Fig. 3. Test set-up of FRP deck for ultimate and fatigue load test.
500
450
400
350

Load (kN)

Table 3
Lamina properties

300
250
200
150

Experiment

100

FEM

50
0
0

12

15

18

21

Vertical displacement (mm)

Fig. 4. Loaddisplacement curve from ultimate load test for deck.

J. Jeong et al. / Composite Structures 81 (2007) 622628

strain on the center of the FRP deck in the case of fracture

was 3013.
The fatigue loading of the FRP deck in Fig. 5 shows the
results of 2 million xed point fatigue tests for 98 kN of
loading range, which was prepared by considering the
designed axial load. After observing the deck during 2 million fatigue tests, no fatigue cracking was detected. Fig. 5
also shows that the strength and stiness of the FRP deck
systems were not reduced. In addition, it is also reasonably
determined that the systems maintain sucient fatigue
strength against the design load.
120

Load (kN)

100
80
60

1 cycle
1000 cycles
10000 cycles
100000 cycles
1000000 cycles
2000000 cycles

40
20
0
0

-0.5

-1

-1.5

-2

-2.5

Vertical displacement (mm)

Fig. 5. Vertical displacement for static test at each cycle.

-3

625

4. Field test
Although a number of demonstration projects have been
completed worldwide [711], there is still a lack of information related to design criteria, cost and installation logistics
and eciency, and long-term response of the decks. In this
study, the eld test of the GFRP deck was performed to
establish service load deection, strain levels for future
comparisons with eld tests, to determine changes in structural performance and long-term durability. An asinstalled eld evaluation through load test and further analytical investigations were considered essential to ensure the
safe and cost-eective use of the FRP deck in future. The
test details such as specimen, installation, instruments
and evaluation are followed. All references to longitudinal and transverse are given with respect to the direction of trac as shown in Fig. 6.
The specimen is an assembly of nine unit modules (8 m
long, 3 m wide, 200 mm deep) with a sand-blasted wearing
surface on the top ange. The connection type used in the
present study is adhesive over an 80 mm lap length. To stop
slipping of the deck in the transverse direction, GFRP
angles and elastic rubber pads (as shown in Fig. 7) were
attached under the bottom ange using adhesive.
The GFRP deck installed was a simple supported structure with no skew angle. The deck was instrumented with
18 strain gages mounted externally in the longitudinal
and transverse directions on the surface of the bottom
ange. All the gages were made watertight and were pro-

Fig. 6. Schematic of eld test and positions of strain gages and LVDTs.

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J. Jeong et al. / Composite Structures 81 (2007) 622628

Fig. 7. FRP deck for led application.

Fig. 9. Installation of FRP deck.

Table 6
Truck weight
Weight (kN)
Front axles (P1)
Second axles (P2)
Third axles (P3)
Gross weight

Fig. 8. Strain gages and LVDTs.

tected from the environment for long-term monitoring use.

The linear variable dierential transformers (LVDTs)
shown in Fig. 8 were used to monitor the mid-span and
quarter-span vertical deections of the deck during the
load test.
4.1. Installation
For the eld application and test, a subway construction
site at Seoul, Korea was chosen. Generally, the steel deck
and girder have been widely used for tentative construction
and excavation work. At this site, a girder with a span of
2 m is regularly used to install a standard steel deck, (2 m
in length, 0.75 m in width, 0.2 m in height and 2.8 kN in
weight per piece). After 16 pieces of temporary steel decks
had been removed, the GFRP deck was installed as shown
in Fig. 9. With a total construction weight of 19.0 kN,
installation was an easy task. Although the GFRP deck
is designed to act compositely with the steel girders supporting it, the composite action between deck and girder
was not considered in this application.
As a result, this deck system is very attractive as a
replacement system since it may signicantly reduce the
dead load of the superstructure. Additionally, the deck is
prefabricated and may be shipped and handled with relatively light equipment and minimal labor.

62.8
98.7
95.0
256.5

deck was accomplished with a dump truck placed at various locations. During each pass, the truck was stopped at
four longitudinal locations. Fig. 10 details the location of
the truck stops. For the rst load step, only the third
axles of the truck were positioned on the GFRP deck
from the longitudinal edge. In the second and third load
steps, both the second and the third axles were positioned
on the deck from the longitudinal edge and from the
transverse centerline, respectively. The fourth load step
was positioned at both the second and third axles from
the opposite edge of load step 2. The truck was moved
on and o the deck and data were recorded at each step.
This sequence was repeated three times to ensure consis-

P3

P2

4.2. Evaluations
The truck load is determined by weighing each wheel
set individually as shown in Table 6. The loading of the

Fig. 10. Step loading in longitudinal (trac) direction.

J. Jeong et al. / Composite Structures 81 (2007) 622628

500

Transverse strain (S#1-S#9)

400
300

200

Strain (

100
0
-100

Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4

-200
-300
-400
-500
0

1000

2000

3000

4000

Distance from center line (mm)

500

Transverse strain (S#10-S#18)

400
300

200
100

Strain (

tency in the recorded data. Due to the axle loads and axle
spacing of the truck, load step 2 corresponds to the worst
loading condition. The loading test with a truck is shown
in Fig. 11.
The results of the load test are presented in Fig. 12. The
maximum deection of the center and quarter were
approximately 1.74 mm and 1.63 mm, respectively. In comparison with the design target of L/800, in which the stiness contribution from the pavement surface and barrier
wall was not considered, the superstructure was signicantly stier. The vertical deection of the test results is
compared with the numerical results. The strains of the
longitudinal and transverse directions are shown in Figs.
13 and 14 at each step. TS and LS indicate transverse
and longitudinal strain (shown in Fig. 6), respectively.
The maximum strain was approximately 400 , equivalent
to 13% of the ultimate strain capacity of the GFRP deck.
The results show that the strain levels experienced in the
deck are quite low but very high under the wheel loads.
Local eects such as wearing surfaces and local buckling

627

0
-100
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4

-200
-300
-400
-500
0

1000

2000

3000

4000

Distance from center line (mm)

Fig. 13. Strains (S#1-S#18) of transverse directions at each step.
500
400

Longitudinal strain (S#1-S#9)

Strain (

300

Fig. 11. Loading test for FRP deck.

200
100
0
-100
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4

-200
-300
-400
-500
0

2.5

1000

2000

3000

4000

Distance from center line (mm)

LVDT 2

500

ABAQUS (center)

400

Longitudinal strain (S#10-S#18)

300

1.5

200

Strain (

Vertical displacement (mm)

LVDT 1 (center)
2

100
0
-100
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4

-200

0.5

-300
-400

0
Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Loading step
Fig. 12. Deections of FRP deck at each step.

Step 4

-500
0

1000

2000

3000

4000

Distance from center line (mm)

Fig. 14. Strains (S#1-S#18) of longitudinal directions at each step.

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J. Jeong et al. / Composite Structures 81 (2007) 622628

may play a major role in the performance of bridge components and should be appropriately considered.
5. Concluding remarks
The pilot construction and eld loading test were performed in order to evaluate the eld applicability and serviceability of the developed FRP deck. The static loading
and fatigue tests were performed to evaluate the ultimate
performance and fatigue performance of the FRP deck
system.
It was conclusively found that the system could reduce
construction time and labor because it reduced the
amount of equipment required for site and pre-cast manufacturing owing to the light-weight FRP deck system,
compared to the existing steel or concrete deck systems.
The eld loading tests of the FRP deck system, showed
that the deection of the FRP deck was 1.74 mm, satisfying the deection limit of 2.5 mm (L/800) and the maximum strain was about 400, which is 13% of the ultimate
strain, the proper strength and stiness.
To increase the constructability and eld application of
the deck system, it is necessary to increase the precision
of the attachment of the deck modules after pultrusion
and develop the connections of the deck and girder.

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