Development of sustainable TL-5 bridge barrier system reinforced with MST-BAR for market competitiveness

环境影响引起的钢筋锈蚀是桥梁护栏劣化问题的主要原因。一种新开发的由玻璃纤维增强聚合物(GFRP)制成的钢筋不仅解决了这一耐久性问题，还提供了极高的抗拉强度。B&B FRPManufacturing Inc.开发了名为“MST-bar”的GFRP筋，作为在各种基础设施应用中发现的传统钢筋的替代品。由于玻璃钢棒材的生产是专有的，开发具有经济竞争力的替代品是有必要的，因此玻璃钢制造商必须经过实验试验和错误测试才能达到满足规范要求的最佳设计。由于B&BFRP制造公司正在寻找这些钢筋在桥梁和结构中的应用以供销售，因此，由于设计规范中缺乏可靠的信息，拟议的研究旨在通过试验试错开发基于性能的桥梁护栏设计，其中包括开发的直和弯MST-钢筋。这项研究的第一部分涉及对开发的直端和端头钢筋进行拔出试验，以确定它们的拔出能力，然后使用这些能力来确定屏障墙中所需的钢筋间距。这项研究的第二部分将包括对选定的实际尺寸的屏障面板几何形状进行坍塌试验，以确定其极限承载能力和破坏模式。将进行成本分析，以帮助公司下一步为市场做好准备。该研究成果有望推动无锈玻璃钢筋在消除冬季使用除冰盐引起的桥梁上部结构维护方面的实践状况。拟议的研究计划促进了在材料和制造研发领域的新的产学互动，这对加拿大的经济产生了特殊的好处。

Corrosion of steel reinforcement due to environmental effects is a major cause of deterioration problems inbridge barriers. A newly-developed reinforcing bars made of glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP) not onlyaddresses this durability problem but also provides exceptionally high tensile strength. B&B FRPManufacturing Inc. developed GFRP bars, designated as "MST-BAR", as a replacement to the traditionalreinforcing steel bars found in a wide variety of infrastructure applications. Since GFRP bar production isproprietary and the development of economically competitive alternatives is warranted, GFRP manufacturershave to go through experimental trial and error to reach the best design to meet code requirements. Since B&BFRP Manufacturing Inc. is looking for applications of these bars in bridges and structures for marketing, theproposed research is intended to develop performance-based design of bridge barriers incorporating thedeveloped straight and bent MST-BAR through experimental trial and error due to lack of reliable informationin design codes. The first part of this research deals with conducting pull-out tests on the developed straightand headed-end bars to determine their pull-out capacity that will then be used to determine the required barspacing in the barrier wall. The second part of this research will include testing to-collapse selected actual-sizebarrier-deck slab geometries to determine their ultimate load carrying capacities and failure modes. Costanalysis will be conducted to assist the company on the next step of market readiness. The research outcome isexpected to advance the state-of-practice on the use of rust-free GFRP bars in eliminating maintenance ofbridge superstructures that results from the use of deicing salts in the winter times. The proposed researchprogram fosters new industry-university interaction in the field of materials and manufacturing research anddevelopment that produces a specific benefit to the economy of Canada.