Abstract

This presentation will give a flavour of some of the ongoing Structural Engineering research at Bristol, with a focus on the underlying mechanics. First, a study aimed at developing a suitable experimental setup for local fatigue assessment of glass fibre reinforced polymer (GFRP) cellular bridge decks under wheel (or rather tyre) loading is described. The crux of this problem is the detailing of a loaded-tyre substitute which, on application to the deck, replicates the contact pressure distribution between the actual compliant pneumatic tyre and the flexible GFRP deck. The second example entails use of carbon FRPs to strengthen statically indeterminate reinforced concrete (RC) frames in flexure, Here, a key issue is the limited ability of the FRP -strengthened structure to redistribute moments in the approach to failure and the associated implications for designing FRP strengthening of indeterminate structures in practice. This will naturally lead on to analysis of generic indeterminate spans comprising two distinct section flexural stiffnesses, under different load forms. Some unanticipated and physically meaningful results emerge.