Development of design rules for repair of corroded steel beams using BFRP wrap

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Canada is a vast country and connectivity among the cities and towns of Canada is achieved by our huge network of roads, highways, and bridges located on these highways and roads. Many of these bridges were built more than 50 years ago and thus, these bridges either passed their designed service life or will soon reach the end of their service life. Many of these bridges are built with steel girders which have suffered corrosion damages which are unpleasant but unavoidable. As a result, many of these bridges are considered structurally deficient and some of them are considered as structurally unsafe. Immediate action in terms of repair and rehabilitation of these bridge girders is paramount to restore these bridges and keep them in service. Failing to that, scary incident like almost crumbling Chaplain Bridge in Montreal can occur in many other bridges across the country. This research program is carefully designed to develop design rules for repair of steel beams and girders damaged by corrosion using emerging and green easy-to-apply basalt fibre wraps. The new repair and rehabilitation technique that will be developed in this project will be a green and cheaper solution, easy-to-apply in the field, and no or minimum interruption to traffic flow. This work will involve a large number of full-scale lab tests, detailed non-linear finite element analyses, and a detailed parametric study followed by the development of design rules. The work is planned to be executed and completed in 42 months by one doctoral student, one postdoctoral fellow, and three undergraduate students under the supervision of Dr. Das. The outcome of this research will help minimizing the need of unrealistic amount of fund required for replacing the corroded beams of aging bridges and possibly other similar infrastructures of Canada. Further, the highly qualified personnel to be trained in this project will be able to reduce the shortage of skilled labour required in construction industry and municipal and provincial agencies.