| Fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) are newly used materials by structural engineers compared to concrete, steel, and wood. One area in which FRP is being used more and more is the strengthening of structurally deficient concrete bridges. FRP strengthening of the bridge girder improves flexural, shear, corrosion, seismic, and impact resistance. ACI 440 committee report outlined design procedure for flexure, shear, axial force, and combined axial and bending forces based on the available research, which are considered to be conservative and also pointed out the areas that still require research. Besides experimental, analytical, and field tests finite element analysis of FRP strengthened structural members is an important area of research. In this thesis, an AASHTO-type IV prestressed concrete girder was modeled using ANSYS 14.5 that was eventually strengthened with FRP for flexure and shear. Flexural and shear failure were studied for un-strengthened and strengthened girder, which was compared with theoretical values obtained via accepted methods of hand calculation. The results obtained from the finite element analysis demonstrate that FRP can be used as an effective strengthening technique. |
