- Title
- Investigation of full-scale fibre composite girders for replacement of hardwood timber girders in Australia
- Creator
- Aravinthan, Thiru; Kahandawa, Gayan
- Date
- 2014
- Type
- Text; Conference paper
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/161194
- Identifier
- vital:12366
- Abstract
- Timber bridges are significant asset in bridge inventory. However, managing aging timber bridges stock is a major challenge. Most of the timber bridges has 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 rigours 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.
- Relation
- 7th International Conference on FRP Composites in Civil Engineering, CICE 2014
- Rights
- This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
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