Reliability of Steel-Fiber Reinforced Polymer Strengthened Reinforced Concrete Bridge Columns

Abstract

The reliability of reinforced concrete (RC) bridge columns strengthened with externally bonded, steel-fiber reinforced polymer (SFRP) fabric subjected to blast loads was investigated. Columns were modeled with a nonlinear finite element approach that considers material damage, fracture, and separation. Different concrete strengths, longitudinal reinforcement ratios, and gravity and blast load levels were considered, whereas uncertainties in material strength and stiffness parameters, as well as load characteristics, were incorporated in the probabilistic analysis. The use of SFRP was found to allow significant increases in blast load while maintaining the same degree of column reliability.