Sprayed FRP repair of simulated impact in prestressed concrete girders

The sprayed fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) technique consists of discontinuous glass fibers sprayed onto the concrete surface concurrently with a vinyl ester resin. In order to evaluate the potential for sprayed FRP repair on impact damaged girders, a series of three AASHTO Type II girders, 13.3 m in length, were tested in flexure. The intent was to determine whether the sprayed FRP technique was capable of restoring the damaged girders to their original undamaged strength and stiffness. One of the girders acted as a control specimen and was tested in an undamaged condition. The remaining two were subjected to simulated impact damage at midspan, including the rupturing of prestressing strands. Of the two damaged girders, the first represented the “damage control” condition and was tested without being repaired. The other was repaired using the sprayed FRP rehabilitation technique, and succeeded in reaching the target rehabilitation goal of 95% of the original undamaged girder strength.