ACI special session presentation - Case study I-635 bridge over State Ave

Just happened to come across a presentation hosted by ACI University of a presentation our engineer Ryan Koch PE made at an ACI special session in Washington DC October 2014.   Ryan's presentation gives a detailed technical overview of the design and economics of the construction of the I-635 bridge over State Ave in Kansas City KS. 

What makes this case study interesting is that there are two nearly identical parallel bridge spans offering the opportunity to compare the design and implementation of GFRP bar directly with epoxy coated steel reinforcing.   Ryan goes through details of the design implementation with Jon Karst of George Butler Associates the engineer of record for the project built for Kansas Dept of Transportation. 

Bertha ends its journey through Aslan 100 GFRP Bars

Bertha has completed its drive under the Alaska Way Viaduct by breaking through the diaphragm wall reinforced with Aslan GFRP bars.

Q&A on the adoption of GFRP bars by Dr. Antonio Nanni

Spent a few minutes over the holidays watching the Q&A of Dr. Antonio Nanni sharing his thoughts and observations on the state of the FRP bar industry during a panel discussion that took place in Dubai World Trade Center in the UAE.
I believe Dr. Nanni's observations are spot on and an accurate representation of our nascent industry as we head into 2017.

As an industry in 2016 we made some good strides in standardization that will help designers implement GFRP bars and it will be exciting to hopefully see the manifestation of those efforts bear fruit in the new year. 

http://seacon.um-sml.com/news-feed.html

Owens Corning video - To build Bridges of Tomorrow

Nice video produced by Owens Corning.   Making the bridges of tomorrow a reality !

Florida DOT - GFRP Rebar workshop

This past Wednesday June 15th, it was a privilege to participate in a historic FRP industry event, Florida DOT's GFRP rebar workshop held in conjunction with the FDOT 2016 Design Training Expo in Daytona Beach FL.  
Leaders of FDOT design and engineering staff asked for the GFRP rebar industry as a whole to gather and learn FDOT's perspective on safe deployment of GFRP reinforcement for concrete structures, barriers they see for expanded GFRP implementation and areas FDOT would focus on for implementation. 
Present at the GFRP rebar workshop were 45 individuals representing five GFRP rebar producers, raw material suppliers from Owens Corning glass fibers, resin producers, academic experts from several universities and from many different departments within FDOT.
Presentations given at the summit and the overall agenda can be seen at the following link:

http://www.dot.state.fl.us/structures/GFRPRebarWorkshop/

"The conversation"

Read a wonderful article which appeared to me as a link in Bill Palmers Concrete Construction e-news letter today.   The article is written by Guy Keulemans

Associate lecturer, UNSW Australia who has made an excellent summary of the fact that concrete is a vibrant active material and that hidden steel rebar is a "secretly active" degradation mechanism.   

He writes; "Steel is often perceived to be inert and resilient too. Terms such as “Iron Age” suggest an ancient durability, although Iron Age artefacts are comparatively rare precisely because they rust. If construction steel is visible, it can be maintained – for instance, when the Sydney Harbour Bridge is repeatedly painted and repainted.

However, when embedded in concrete, steel is hidden but secretly active. Moisture entering through thousands of tiny cracks creates an electrochemical reaction. One end of the rebar becomes an anode and the other a cathode, forming a “battery” that powers the transformation of iron into rust. Rust can expand the rebar up to four times its size, enlarging cracks and forcing the concrete to fracture apart in a process called spalling, more widely known as “concrete cancer”. "

Read the full article here:

https://theconversation.com/the-problem-with-reinforced-concrete-56078

Elkhorn North Bridge with Aslan 100 GFRP rebar wins ACI Award of Excellence

Elkhorn North Bridge

Updated Jan 29th, 2016

2015 Nebraska ACI Award of Excellence Winner ­ Elkhorn North Bridge Village of Washington, Nebraska

The Elkhorn North Bridge project required the re­decking of NDOR Bridge over an unnamed tributary of the North Branch of Papillion Creek and was a good opportunity to use a non­corrosive reinforcing material. The bridge deck was in need of repair and with other roadwork required near the village of Washington, NDOR decided to re­deck the bridge at the same time. NDOR chose to use Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) rebar instead of traditional epoxy coated steel to extend the expected service life of the deck. GFRP reinforcing contains no steel and is not subject to corrosion by chlorides from the application of road salts and is a good alternative to epoxy coated reinforcing. What makes this project noteworthy is that this is the first bridge in Nebraska to utilize GFRP reinforcement.
The single span bridge is 96’ long and 32’­8” wide, with a 10 degree skew and was originally built in 1980. This is the first re­deck. It has a 8” thick deck supported by 42” deep welded plate girders at 9’­0” on center. The project used just over 11,000 lbs of #6 GFRP reinforcing, which when taking into account the reduced density (25%) as compared to steel. This would be equivalent in volume to a full truck load of

steel reinforcing. The cost of the bridge deck replacement was approximately $247,000. The bridge work

steel reinforcing. The cost of the bridge deck replacement was approximately $247,000. The bridge work began in early 2015 and was completed in the fall of 2015.
YOUTUBE VIDEO: GFRP BRIDGE

Owner:
Structural Engineer: General Contractor: Concrete Supplier: GFRP Supplier:

Nebraska Department of Roads Nebraska Department of Roads
A.M. Cohron & Son
Ready Mixed Concrete Co., Omaha
Hughes Brothers