Aravinthan, Thiru and Kahandawa, Gayan (2014) Investigation of full-scale fibre composite girders for replacement of hardwood timber girders in Australia. In: 7th International Conference on FRP Composites in Civil Engineering (CICE 2014), 20-22 Aug 2014, Vancouver, Canada.
Abstract
Timber bridges are significant assets in bridge inventory. However, managing aging timber bridge stock is a major challenge. Most of the timber bridges have already reached its design service life, and needs to be replaced. The limited financial resources to maintain these bridges and the depleting supply of quality hardwood timber have created a need for a cost effective alternative for the replacement of these timber bridges. Fibre composite girders are a viable solution, but manufacturing cost needs to be reduced to make it commercially viable. A major research and development project on fibre composite alternative girders to replace existing hard-wood timber girders was carried out by the Centre of Excellence in Engineered Fibre Composites (CEEFC). This project was in collaboration with the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (DTMR) and two industry partners. This project aims to develop commercially viable fibre composite bridge girders for the Australian market through the use of advanced manufacturing processes. These full-scale girders have undergone rigorous testing including proof load testing, fatigue testing and ultimate strength testing to prove its viability as a suitable replacement girder. This paper presents the performance of these girders and discusses important issues encountered in the production of these fibre composite replacement girders. It is concluded that both fibre composite bridge girder concepts developed by the industry partners meet the set design criteria.
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| Item Type: | Conference or Workshop Item (Commonwealth Reporting Category E) (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | © CICE 2014. Permanent restricted access to published version due to publisher copyright policy. |
| Faculty / Department / School: | Current - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Civil Engineering and Surveying |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Apr 2015 23:58 |
| Last Modified: | 22 May 2017 01:19 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | composite beams and girders; composite bridges; cost effectiveness; fatigue testing; hardwoods; highway bridges; load testing; plate girder bridges; wooden beams and girders; wooden bridges |
| Fields of Research : | 09 Engineering > 0905 Civil Engineering > 090505 Infrastructure Engineering and Asset Management 09 Engineering > 0905 Civil Engineering > 090506 Structural Engineering 09 Engineering > 0905 Civil Engineering > 090503 Construction Materials |
| Socio-Economic Objective: | B Economic Development > 87 Construction > 8703 Construction Materials Performance and Processes > 870305 Timber Materials |
| URI: | http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/26968 |
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