Precast RC Blocks with Connections Composed of Steel Shear Keys and CFRP Sheets for the Superstructure of Temporary Bridges in a Postdisaster Situation

Abstract

Many bridges would be washed away due to giant tsunamis caused by the anticipated Nankai Trough earthquake. The accelerated bridge construction (ABC) concept should be applied to temporary bridge construction to save on-site construction time and help roads reopen immediately after the event. In this paper, a temporary bridge using precast reinforced concrete (RC) blocks with connections composed of steel shear keys and carbon fiber–reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets is proposed. The proposed bridge facilitates rapid recovery from natural disasters and accordingly enhances disaster resilience. Bending and shear tests are conducted to investigate the effects of the proposed connection on the structural performance of beams. The experimental results indicate that the connection with an adequate CFRP sheet length provides sufficient flexural capacity for temporary bridges and does not negatively affect the shear capacity. Moreover, a 3D finite-element (FE) model is applied to simulate the bending tests. The FE model provides good agreement with the experimental results and can be applied to design the structural details of full-scale RC blocks.