Effect of Jute Fibers and Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer Rebars in Concrete for Bridge Girder Applications

Abstract

Many aspacts have been investigated previously in relation with the failure of concrete bridge girders. The main reasons for failure of bridge girders are cracking, heavy loads, crazing and mortar detaching. Among the aforementioned aspects, cracking is said to be the one which severly affects the strength and serviceability of concrete bridge girders. Cracking in concrete is due to high strength gained by cement content, water cement ratio and reduction strain. Cracking can be controlled by improving the mechanical properties of concrete. The use of jute fiber with GFRP rebar has achieved attention of researchers due to more ductility, resistance to heat and light weight. GFRP rebars can be used as alternatives for ordinary steel. This thesis presents the contribution of GFRP rebars and jute fiber to control cracking and improving the mechanical properties of concrete. Beamlets of reinforced concrete with different flexural GFRP rebars and shear steel bars, with and without jute fiber, were experimentally investigated to study the variation in properties due to introduction of jute fibers. Flexural strength of the concrete bridge girders was measured during the lab experiments. The experiments revealed significant increase in flexural strength, energy absorption, and toughness index of the gorders. Furthermore, integration of jute fiber showed better cracking control mechanism in GFRP rebars concrete. In conclusion concrete bridge girders having jute fiber are more durable and sustainable as compared to the concrete bridge girder having no jute fiber.