Advances in Durability Performance and Service-life Prediction of Innovative Fibre-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Bars

混凝土基础设施中钢筋的腐蚀是一个主要的耐久性问题，导致结构退化和随之而来的昂贵的维修和可用性损失。根据《2012年加拿大基础设施报告卡》，加拿大相当数量的市政基础设施处于“一般”和“非常差”之间（平均约35%）。仅在全国范围内更换这些资产就将达到1718亿美元。一个相对较新的解决方案受到全球关注的是纤维增强聚合物（FRP）钢筋作为传统钢筋的成本效益替代品。由于其耐腐蚀性，重量轻，强度高，FRP筋已在加拿大使用了20年的基础设施，如桥面，停车场和连续人行道。缺乏有关长期耐久性的适当数据是FRP筋被更广泛接受和大规模应用的主要障碍。*该发现补助金（DG）包括新的创新研究，以及扩展开发和验证具有增强耐久性和高性能/成本比的新一代FRP筋性能所需的长期实验室和现场实验。拟议的工作将调查新的先进材料和FRP产品的长期性能，产量理解和建模FRP筋降解机制，并验证严格的方法预测FRP筋性能的成分，复合材料和FRP钢筋混凝土构件在很长一段时间。这样做的目的是利用基本的科学发现，以提高玻璃钢筋的耐久性性能和经济的混凝土结构的设计与玻璃钢筋。将采用综合方法研究各种物理/环境/负荷/协同参数对长期性能的影响。这项发现补助金将推动有关FRP筋的知识边界，包括新的玻璃纤维，新的玄武岩纤维，低渗透性树脂系统和纳米复合材料等新材料。拟议的工作是变革性的，因为它将导致新的FRP筋具有更大的耐久性和物理/机械性能，准确的性能预测模型，并开发基于耐久性的代码规范。这将有利于加拿大和国际设计顾问和监管机构，业主和建筑行业，他们都将能够对这些结构材料产生更大的信心。此外，作为加拿大在基础设施应用中开发和成功使用FRP条技术的领导者，这项研究将保持/加强加拿大在该行业的领导地位。拟议的研究将通过培训8名博士生和2名硕士生来实施。

Corrosion of steel reinforcement in concrete infrastructure is a major durability problem, leading to structural degradation and consequent costly repairs and loss of serviceability. According to the 2012 Canadian Infrastructure Report Card, a significant amount of Canadian municipal infrastructure ranks between "fair" and "very poor" (about 35%, on average). Replacing these assets nationally would alone total $171.8 billion. A relatively recent solution receiving global attention is fibre-reinforced-polymer (FRP) reinforcing bars as a cost-effective alternative to conventional steel bars. Given their corrosion resistance, light weight, and high strength, FRP bars have been used in Canada for the last 20 years for infrastructure such bridge decks, parking garages, and continuous pavements. The lack of appropriate data about the long-term durability poses a major obstacle to broader acceptance and mass implementation of FRP bars.***This Discovery Grant (DG) includes new, innovative research, in addition to extending the long-term laboratory and field experiments needed to develop and validate the performance of new generations of FRP bars with enhanced durability properties and high performance / cost ratios. The proposed work will investigate the long-term performance of new advanced materials and FRP products, yield understanding and modeling FRP-bar degradation mechanisms, and validate rigorous methods of predicting FRP-bar performance in terms of constituents, composites, and FRP-reinforced concrete members over a long period of time. This would be done with a view to using fundamental scientific findings to improve the durability performance of FRP bars and the design of economic concrete structures reinforced with FRP bars. Comprehensive methods will be employed to examine the impact of various physical/environmental/load/synergetic parameters on long-term performance. This Discovery Grant will push back the boundaries of knowledge about FRP bars incorporating a new class of glass fibres, new basalt fibres, resin systems with low permeability, and new materials such as nanocomposites. The proposed work is transformative because it will lead to new FRP bars with greater durability and physical/mechanical properties, to accurate performance predictive models, and to development of durability-based code specifications. This will benefit Canadian and international design consultants and regulators, owners, and the construction industry, all of whom will be able to place greater confidence in these structural materials. In addition, as Canada's leader in developing and successfully using FRP-bar technology in infrastructure applications, this research will maintain/enhance Canada's leadership in this industry. The proposed research will be implemented through the training of 8 doctoral and 2 master's students.**