Thermal compatibility of highway wearing surfaces and GFRP bridge decks

An attempt to lift imposed weight limits and to solve bridge deck deterioration problems is to use glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) composite decks to replace existing deteriorated concrete bridge decks. FRP decks offer the advantages of high strength to weight ratio, ease of transport and installation, short construction time, corrosion resistance, and high fatigue resistance. Wearing surface material is needed on bridge decks for skid and wearing resistance, and to withstand the daily traffic loads during the service life of the bridge. Field surveys in several USA states have shown fast deterioration of wearing surface materials (WSM). The cause of deterioration is attributed to incompatibility between the WSM and the FRP decks, and several other physical and environmental factors. This paper presents three wearing surface systems for FRP bridge decks, as follows: (1) special hybrid plain concrete system, (2) concrete tiled system, and (3) reinforced concrete system. Several wearing surface materials were experimentally investigated, e.g. polymer modified concrete, polymer concrete, asphalt, and polymer modified asphalt. Thermal compatibility between WSM and FRP was investigated following ASTM C884 Standard Test, freeze-thaw-heat non-standard test, and submerge-freeze non-standard test. Three wearing surface systems were developed and recommended for different bridge applications depending on the use, type, and stiffness of the FRP bridge deck.