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Infrastructures
Special Issues
Advanced Materials and Technology for Resilient Bridge Infrastructures
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Advanced Materials and Technology for Resilient Bridge Infrastructures

A special issue of Infrastructures (ISSN 2412-3811).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2019) | Viewed by 39415

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Armin Mehrabi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering and Computing, Florida International University, 10555 West Flagler Street, EC 3602, Miami, FL 33174, USA
Interests: bridge engineering; non-destructive evaluation of bridges; structural health monitoring; vibration analysis and mitigation; structural performance evaluation; field and laboratory testing; bridge rehabilitation and corrosion mitigation; analysis and modeling of masonry and R/C frames; fiber-reinforced polymer applications
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Bridges occupy a key position in the surface transportation system and need to provide reliable access during ordinary and extraordinary times. They become even more important for evacuation, rescue, and recovery efforts before, during, and after extreme events such as storms, hurricanes, earthquakes, sea water level rise, and other natural and man-made hazards. These efforts will be significantly hindered if bridges are damaged and become inoperative. Hence, it is essential that bridges have “resiliency” against such adverse effects. The National Academies of Science defines “resilience” as “the ability of a system to prepare, absorb, recovery from, and successfully adapt to adverse events.” Accordingly, for a bridge to be resilient, not only it should be designed and constructed to reliably withstand the adverse effects, but also rapid condition assessment, recovery and restoration of its service should be feasible with the least possible efforts. Innovative solutions and technologies for design and construction of new bridges and for retrofitting the existing bridges are therefore imperative for providing better resiliency. Further, an accurate knowledge of the condition of bridges in a transportation network before, during, and after an extreme event, and decision making for inspection, maintenance, repair and recovery efforts is as important if not more.

Various technologies have been used in the past and are in development to isolate the bridge structure from adverse effects or to absorb the effects with minimal damage. Some solutions focus on limiting damage to elements that can be repaired or replaced for fast recovery. New and durable materials have been also recognized as a means to retain the capacity of bridges in longer term and resist adverse environmental conditions. Accelerated construction using special elements, materials, connections, and installation methods have attempted to provide for bridges with higher quality and rapid repair, replacement, and restoration objectives. Smart structures and self-healing materials have also been investigated for applications in future generation of resilient bridges.

Innovative approaches to health monitoring, condition assessment, and reliability analysis of bridges, along with risk- and reliability-based decision-making processes for maintenance, retrofit, repair, and restoration also play important role in improving resilience for individual bridges as well as for a network of roads and bridges. Structural health monitoring and condition assessment have evolved significantly in recent years with introduction of innovative sensors, data communication, and non-destructive evaluation. These methods have been augmented by the use of drones and robots for rapid and efficient assessment of damages in small and large scales.    

This Special Issue of journal attempts to collect state-of-the-art in materials and technologies for design, construction, repair, and restoration of bridges for resiliency, as well as means and methods for evaluation of bridges and decision-making processes for individual bridges and bridges within a transportation network.

Dr. Armin Mehrabi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Infrastructures is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Bridge Design and Construction 
  • Resilience 
  • Extreme Events 
  • Innovative Materials 
  • Innovative Technologies 
  • Structural Health Monitoring 
  • Retrofitting 
  • Accelerated Repair
  • Accelerated Bridge Construction 
  • Risk-Based Decision Making

Published Papers (6 papers)

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14 pages, 2837 KiB  
Article
Effect of Cross-Frames on Load Distribution of Steel Bridges with Fractured Girder
by Mohammad Abedin and Armin B. Mehrabi
Infrastructures 2020, 5(4), 32; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/infrastructures5040032 - 01 Apr 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4272
Abstract
In steel girder bridges, fracture of one girder may occur without noticeable bridge profile changes. It is critical to ensure that the bridge will have adequate capacity to prevent collapse until the next cycle of inspection discovers the damage. It is realized that [...] Read more.
In steel girder bridges, fracture of one girder may occur without noticeable bridge profile changes. It is critical to ensure that the bridge will have adequate capacity to prevent collapse until the next cycle of inspection discovers the damage. It is realized that once one of the bridge girders is fractured, vertical loads need to be distributed through an alternative path to the intact girder(s). In this case, cross-frames can play an important role in transferring the loads and preventing from sudden collapse. This paper investigates the impact of cross-frames on load distribution after a fracture is occurred in one girder. Bridge configurations with different cross-frame spacing were studied using finite element modeling and simulation of the bridge behavior with a fractured steel plate girder. Nonlinear and dynamic solution methods were used for these analyses. Results of this investigation demonstrated the important role cross-frames can play in providing some reserved capacity for the bridge with fractured girder to enhance the bridge redundancy. The contribution of the cross-frames and the behavior of the bridge after fracture in one girder however depends on the configuration of the bridge. A study of the variation of the effect of cross-frames with respect to the number of girders is also included in this paper. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials and Technology for Resilient Bridge Infrastructures)
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16 pages, 10158 KiB  
Article
Novel Approaches for Fracture Detection in Steel Girder Bridges
by Mohammad Abedin and Armin B. Mehrabi
Infrastructures 2019, 4(3), 42; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/infrastructures4030042 - 11 Jul 2019
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 6034
Abstract
The bottom flanges of steel plate girder bridges can be considered fracture-critical elements depending on the number of girders and bridge configuration. For such cases, it is required that inspection of these bridges be carried out using costly “arms-length” approach. New techniques in [...] Read more.
The bottom flanges of steel plate girder bridges can be considered fracture-critical elements depending on the number of girders and bridge configuration. For such cases, it is required that inspection of these bridges be carried out using costly “arms-length” approach. New techniques in structural health monitoring (SHM) that use non-contact sensors and self-powered wireless sensors present alternative approach for inspection. Application of such techniques would allow timely detection and application of repair and strengthening, in other word, providing for more resilient bridges. This paper investigates the feasibility of using a handful of self-powered wireless or non-contact sensors for continuous or periodic monitoring and detection of fracture in steel plate girder bridges. To validate this concept, vibration measurements were performed on an actual bridge in the field, and detailed finite element analyses were carried out on a multi-girder bridge. The records obtained show that vibration amplitude was significantly increased for fractured girder, and a distinct pattern of strain variation was registered in the vicinity of fracture, all of which can be detected effectively with relevant sensors. Moreover, the amplitude and frequency of the vibration was shown to be significant enough for providing the required power for typical sensor(s). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials and Technology for Resilient Bridge Infrastructures)
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14 pages, 5890 KiB  
Article
Polymer Concrete for Bridge Deck Closure Joints in Accelerated Bridge Construction
by Islam Mantawy, Rahulreddy Chennareddy, Moneeb Genedy and Mahmoud Reda Taha
Infrastructures 2019, 4(2), 31; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/infrastructures4020031 - 01 Jun 2019
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 7543
Abstract
Prefabricated concrete bridge deck panels are utilized in Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) to simplify bridge deck construction. Concrete with good bond and shear strength as well as excellent flowability is required to fill bridge deck closure joints. This paper discusses the use of [...] Read more.
Prefabricated concrete bridge deck panels are utilized in Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) to simplify bridge deck construction. Concrete with good bond and shear strength as well as excellent flowability is required to fill bridge deck closure joints. This paper discusses the use of polymer concrete (PC) for bridge deck closure joints in ABC. PC produced using poly methyl methacrylate and standard aggregate was tested. Test results of PC are compared to Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC). Development length, lap splice length and shear strength of unreinforced PC were tested. It is shown that PC has a development length of 3.6 to 4.1 times the reinforcing bar diameter that is close to one-half the development length of 6 to 8 times the bar diameter required with UHPC. PC also showed a shorter splice length compared with that reported for UHPC. Finally, unreinforced PC showed shear strength that is twice that of UHPC. It is evident that using PC in bridge deck closure joints in ABC can improve constructability and provide cost-savings and eliminate reinforcing bar congestion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials and Technology for Resilient Bridge Infrastructures)
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10 pages, 3627 KiB  
Article
Chloride Penetration at Cold Joints of Structural Members with Dissimilar Concrete Incorporating UHPC
by Mahsa Farzad, Saiada Fuadi Fancy, Kingsley Lau and Atorod Azizinamini
Infrastructures 2019, 4(2), 18; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/infrastructures4020018 - 24 Apr 2019
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 5840
Abstract
Ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) has been introduced for reinforced concrete structures due to its enhanced mechanical performance, including high compressive strength and tensile capacity. In certain applications, such as closure joints, connections, and concrete repairs, reinforcing steel may be embedded in dissimilar concrete elements [...] Read more.
Ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) has been introduced for reinforced concrete structures due to its enhanced mechanical performance, including high compressive strength and tensile capacity. In certain applications, such as closure joints, connections, and concrete repairs, reinforcing steel may be embedded in dissimilar concrete elements partially incorporating UHPC. Superficially, UHPC can be considered to provide enhanced corrosion durability in marine environments due to its low permeability which would mitigate chloride-induced corrosion of rebar in the bulk material. However, the chloride intrusion through cold joints can be faster than that in bulk concrete and may jeopardize the durability of structures. This research examines the possibility of enhanced chloride transport at the cold joint incorporating UHPC. The effectiveness of the bond on chloride penetration at the concrete interface with various levels of moisture availability for the substrate at the time of UHPC repair was examined. To this effect, the substrate concrete was conditioned to different moisture content including 0%, 75%, and 100% relative humidity, and soaked prior to UHPC repair concrete casting. Chloride penetration was accelerated by an impressed current source and assessed by silver nitrate solution sprayed on the cold joint. Moreover, the tensile bond strength between substrate concrete and UHPC was measured using the splitting tensile test. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials and Technology for Resilient Bridge Infrastructures)
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9 pages, 1793 KiB  
Technical Note
Simplified Method to Estimate the Moment Capacity of Circular Columns Repaired with UHPC
by Mahsa Farzad, Siavash Rastkar, Amir Sadeghnejad and Atorod Azizinamini
Infrastructures 2019, 4(3), 45; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/infrastructures4030045 - 27 Jul 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 5968
Abstract
Ultra high-performance concrete (UHPC) application, to enhance the mechanical strength of axially loaded reinforced concrete bridge substructure elements, was proposed and investigated in an earlier study. The results recommended that depending on the UHPC shell thickness, this method may cause shifting of the [...] Read more.
Ultra high-performance concrete (UHPC) application, to enhance the mechanical strength of axially loaded reinforced concrete bridge substructure elements, was proposed and investigated in an earlier study. The results recommended that depending on the UHPC shell thickness, this method may cause shifting of the critical section to undesired locations, due to over-strengthening of the repaired section, and this should be a design consideration. This paper proposes a new simplified analytical approach to calculate the bending moment capacity of the repaired circular section. This method relies on hand calculations and only requires basic material properties (compressive and tensile strengths). The results from the simplified approach are validated with a well-established numerical sectional analysis method. The proposed approach may be considered simple and more straightforward for professional engineers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials and Technology for Resilient Bridge Infrastructures)
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9 pages, 3611 KiB  
Technical Note
Durable Bridge Columns using Stay-In-Place UHPC Shells for Accelerated Bridge Construction
by Nerma Caluk, Islam Mantawy and Atorod Azizinamini
Infrastructures 2019, 4(2), 25; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/infrastructures4020025 - 13 May 2019
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 8856
Abstract
Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) is a durable material that allows the construction of innovative structural elements and conforms with accelerated bridge construction (ABC) goals. The main idea of this research is to utilize UHPC to prefabricate a shell that acts as a stay-in-place [...] Read more.
Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) is a durable material that allows the construction of innovative structural elements and conforms with accelerated bridge construction (ABC) goals. The main idea of this research is to utilize UHPC to prefabricate a shell that acts as a stay-in-place form for bridge columns. The prefabricated shell eliminates the conventional formwork while reducing the on-site construction time and acting as a durable protective layer for the normal concrete inside the shell against environmental attacks. In addition, the UHPC shell provides additional confinement to the column concrete, which improves the column’s structural performance. During construction and after completing the column reinforcement work onsite, based on the conventional construction methods, the prefabricated UHPC shell is placed around the column reinforcement, followed by casting a portion of UHPC for a column-to-footing connection, which improves the capacity of the connection and shifts the plastic hinge zone above the connection. Once the UHPC portion hardens, normal concrete is placed inside the shell, forming a permanent concrete-filled UHPC shell. The construction process is finalized by placing and connecting a prefabricated cap beam to the column through the same developed connection as that in this research. This technical note presents the development of two test specimens using an UHPC shell in lieu of a conventional formwork with the advantage of improving the column performance and durability. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Materials and Technology for Resilient Bridge Infrastructures)
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