Application of FRP Materials for Construction of Culvert Road Bridges - manufacturing and life-cycle cost analysis

This report presents the results of a research project, BBT2014-003, funded by Swedish Traffic administration (Trafikverket) titled “Application of FRP materials for Construction of Culvert Road Bridges - Manufacturing and life-cycle cost analysis”. This project is a complement and continuation of a previous project BBT2013-006 titled ”Preliminary study on application of FRP materials in Culvert Road Bridges, with emphasis on mechanical behavior and life-cycle cost analysis”. While the first project addressed the feasibility of using FRP composites as a construction material in culvert bridge structures with respect to limit state design, the current project aims to investigate the possibilities for manufacturing of FRP culvert structures and viability of such structures from LCC perspective. The results of the previous study indicated that the strength of used FRP materials was sufficient in ULS and the deflection in the mid-span would most probably become the governing issue in the design (if there are requirement on deflection control). Regarding the manufacturing of the culverts, among existing techniques for manufacturing FRP elements, pultrusion, filament winding, and VARTM are identified to be feasible and investigated further in this report. Considering LCC analysis, it is shown that the investigated case study bridge, the FRP alternative, compared with traditional steel alternative, can be more cost-efficient along all life-cycle phases, including investment, operation and maintenance and disposal.