A Sample of International Production
FRP Reinforcement for
Concrete Structures
by M.A. Erki and S.H. Rizkalla
ber reinforced plastic (FRP) re-
fi .nforcement is one of the most
promising new developments
for concrete structures. FRP re-
inforcing elements provide lighter,
easier to assemble, and more durable
structures that are free of the deteriora-
tion caused by corrosion of steel. FRPs
consist of synthetic or organic high-
strength fibers, most of which are im-
pregnated with a resin matrix. They are
available in the form of grids, rods, and
ropes for reinforcing and prestressing
concrete members.
For lightly loaded structural elements
such as reinforced concrete cladding
panels, the corrosion resistance of FRP
may allow concrete cover requirements
to be reduced, thereby saving materials
and producing lighter structures. How-
ever, in other applications, to avoid con-
crete splitting failures rising from the
load transfer between FRP reinforce-
ment and concrete, the minimum cover
requirement for FRP systems will usu-
ally be larger than for steel.
Commercially available FRP rein-
forcement is currently made of carbon,
aramid, or glass fibers, impregnated
with a resin. Some aramid fiber rein-
forcement consists of aramid filaments
without a resin matrix. The general ad-
vantages of FRP reinforcement com-
pared to steel are:
• High ratio of strength to mass density
(10 to 15 times greater than steel's).
• Carbon and aramid fiber reinforce-
ment have excellent fatigue character-
istics (as much as three times higher
than steel's). (However, the fatigue
strength of glass FRP reinforcement
may be significantly below steel's).
• Excellent corrosion resistance and
electromagnetic neutrality.
• Low axial coefficient of thermal ex-
pansion, especially for carbon fiber re-
inforced composite materials.
48
FRP reinforcement generally has a
mass only one-seventh to one-fifth of
steel reinforcement of equivalent diam-
eter. The material characteristics of re-
inforcement made of carbon fiber rein-
forced plastic (CFRP), ararnid fiber re-
inforced plastic (AFRP), and glass fiber
reinforced plastic (GFRP), compared to
prestressing steel, are shown in Fig. 1.
2.5.---------------.,
~ solved.
(!) 2.0
.5
<[
u bridges have been built in Europe and
......
1.1.. 1.5
" perience to date with these structures
2 3
Tensile Strain in %
Fig. 1 - Material characteristics of
GFRP, CFRP, AFRP, and steel pre-
stressing tendons.
Disadvantages ofFRP reinforcement
include:
• High cost (S to 50 times more than
steel)
• Low modulus of elasticity
• Low failure strain
• Special attention must be paid to an-
chorages when FRP reinforcement is
used for prestressing (because of FRP' s
high ratio of axial to lateral strength).
• Long-term strength ofFRP reinforce-
ment can be lower than short-term static
Selected for reader interest by the editors.
strength (e.g., the long-term strength of
GFRP is approximately 70 percent of its
short-term strength; a threshold long-
term strength has not been established
conclusively for AFRP).
• Ultra-violet radiation has been found
to damage FRP.
• Ararnid fibers can deteriorate due to
water absorption.
• The issue of the durability of glass
fibers in concrete has not yet been re-
Over fifteen roadway and pedestrian
Japan using FRP reinforcement. The ex-
has served to increase the interest and
willingness to use FRP reinforcement
for new construction. Ultimately time
will determine the feasibility of FRP re-
inforcement, but for now there is every
indication that it will play an ever in-
creasing role in concrete structures.
4
Carbon fiber based
reinforcement
CFRP reinforcement has the highest
tensile modulus of elasticity of the var-
ious types of FRP reinforcement (typi-
cally 65 percent or more of the modulus
of steel). The maximum strain at failure
lies between 1.2 and 2 percent, which
requires particular caution in using
CFRP reinforcement for reinforced con-
crete. The axial coefficient of thermal
expansion is 0.2 x I Q-6 mlmI°C (0.11 x
IQ-6 in.!in.!°F). CFRP reinforcement is
made in the form of rods, tendons, and
ropes, using poly acrylonitrile (PAN) or
pitch-based carbon fibers. Several
brands of carbon fiber are being made
for CFRP; most of them have a tensile
strength of about 3 GPa (435 ksi) and a
tensile modulus of elasticity of230 GPa
(33,359 ksi).
Concrete International

Fig. 2 - CFCC rectangular spiral.
Poly acrylonitrile CFRP
Unidirectional, carbon fiber composite
cable (CFCC) is made by Tokyo Rope!
using carbon fibers of poly-acrylonitrile
(PAN) type, supplied by Toho Rayon.
The wires are made from roving
prepreg, which consists of 12,000 fila-
ments impregnated with resin. The
prepreg is twisted to create a fiber core,
which is covered by wrapping synthetic
yarns, thereby becoming a single strand.
The yarn covering protects the core
from UV radiation and mechanical
damage, and improves the bond of
CFCC with concrete.
Ropes are made from either single,
seven, nineteen or thirty-seven wire
strands. CFCC is available in diameters
of 3 mm (0.12 in.) to 40 mm (1.57 in.),
with breaking loads of 10 kN (2.25 kip)
to 1100 kN (247.29 kip). Multiple strand
ropes are twisted to allow better redis-
tribution of the stresses through the
cross section. Heat curing is used to
harden the resin matrix.
Impact and fatigue testing of CFCC
have indicated no significant deficien-
cies. However, the shear strength and
heat resistance are low due to the
thermo-setting matrix used for this type
of reinforcement. The relaxation is only
half that of steel strand.
The maximum length of CFCC now
made is 600 m (1968 ft), with future
plans to make lengths up to 3000 m
(9842 ft). The rope is flexible enough to
be coiled on drums for transportation.
Prior to heat curing, CFCC can be
shaped into rectangular and circular spi-
rals for stirrups and confining rein-
forcement (Fig. 2). CFCC is mainly
used as prestressing tendons and rein-
forcement; it could also be used for the
support cables of cable-stayed and sus-
pension bridges.
At least six structures have been built
June 1993
-
I diameter coil for transportation and han-
Fig. 3 - Round and deformed CFRP
rods.
using CFCC - four prestressed pedes-
trian bridges in Japan, and two pre-
stressed roadway bridges: the preten-
sioned twenty-four girder Shinmiya
Bridge2 in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan,
which has a 5.76 m (18.9 ft) span; and
the post-tensioned BASF Railroad
Overbridge 3 in Ludwigshafen, Ger-
many, which has four 20 m (65.6 ft)
spans, two straight and two curved.
Pitch-based CFRP
Mitsubishi Kasei, Japan, makes round
and deformed Leadline CFRP bars (Fig.
3) using Dialead coal tar pitch-based
continuous carbon fiber and an epoxy
resin. 4 Round bar diameters range from
1 to 17 mm (0.04 to 0.67 in.) and de-
formed bar diameters from 5 to 17 mm
(0.2 to 0.67 in.).
Leadline CFRP bars are suitable for
post-tensioning. They have been used in
the Bachigawa-Minami BridgeS (1989,
Kitakyushu City, Japan), a roadway
bridge with two simple spans of 18.2 m
(59.7 ft) and 17.5 m (57.4 ft); the pre-
stressed Tsukuba Creation Center En-
trance Gate, a marine floating structure;
and the ground anchors for a stress-
ribbon footbridge 6 in Japan.
Under development
British Ropes Limited is developing
Bri-ten 7 tendons, consisting of a
stranded jacketed bundle of sixty-one
FRP rods with a long helical pitch in a
plastic sheath. The FRP may be either
pultruded continuous carbon fiber (XA-
High Strength Graphite, made by Hysol
Grafil, an associated company of
Coutauld pIc and Dexter Corporation)
or aramid fiber (Kevlar49, made by Du
Pont) in a vinyl ester resin matrix. The
rods have 63 percent fiber volume, and
the strand has a zero axial coefficient of
thermal expansion in the conventional
temperature range. This product will
soon be available commercially.
The FRP rods are packed in a hexag-
onal configuration 45 mm (1 %in.) in di-
ameter; the thermoplastic jllcket in-
creases the overall diameter to 51 mm
(2.0 in.). The strand pitch is 3.3 m (11
ft), which makes the cable flexible
enough to be wound into a 1.5 m (5 ft)
dling.
In dynamic tests of the strand, Walton
and Yeung7 found that, the fatigue
curves for carbon and aramid Bri-ten
tended to be flat. The failures Walton
and Yeung observed led them to con-
clude that the anchorages playa major
role in controlling the damage mecha-
nism in the tension fatigue of the
strands.
Aramid fiber-based
reinforcement
AFRP reinforcement is manufactured as
ropes and rods. Its main advantage is a
higher strain at failure than CFRP rein-
forcement. Three types of aramid fibers
are being made for ARFP: Kevlar (49
and 29), Twaron, and Technora. Their
fiber tensile strengths and moduli of
elasticity are, respectively, 2.65 GPa and
165 GPaforKevlar49, 2.8 GPaand 125
GPa for Twaron, and 3.4 GPa and 73
GPa for Technora. Aramid fibers have
shown some different trends in material
properties compared to carbon and glass
fiber. The modulus of elasticity of
aramid fibers is slightly higher at higher
stresses than at lower stresses. s Also,
there have been no fatigue limits deter-
mined for aramid fibers, and the phe-
nomenon of creep-rupture failure has
been observed.
Ropes
Linear Composites Limited of Imperial
Chemical Industries (ICI) make three
types ofParafil rope,9 which consists of
a closely packed parallel layered core of
continuous high strength synthetic fila-
ments encased in a durable polymeric
sheathing. The black polyethylene
sheathing has a high resistance to ultra-
violet degradation and is inert over a
wide range of temperatures. The ropes
have one-seventh the weight of steel
wires. TYpe A has a high tenacity tery-
lene core, TYPe F has a Kevlar 29 core,
and Type G has a Kevlar 49 core. Di-
ameters range for TYPe A from 8.5 mm
(0.33 in.) to 140 mm (5.5 in.), and for
TYpe F and G from 7 mm (0.28 in.) to
90 mm (3.54 in.). .
49

Fig. 4 - Arapree tendon.
Fig. 5 - Top to bottom: round, spiral
wound round, and rectangular ARFP
rods; ARFP twisted strand.
Rg. 6 - Braided AFRP FiBRA-Rod.
The relaxation properties of Type G
Parafil were reported by Kingston. 10 He
found that at 1000 hours, Parafil relaxes
by 7.4 percent when stressed at 70 per-
cent of its tensile strength. Creep tests
on Type F Parafil showed that the creep
is low and occurs over the first few days,
thereafter falling off rapidly to a negli-
gible rate. After seven years no signifi-
cant changes could be detected. It is ex-
pected that on-going tests on Type G
Parafil will show that its creep is only 40
percent of that of Type F. The coeffi-
cient of thermal expansion is -5.7 x
10. -6 mJrnl°C (3.1 x 10-6 in.lin.l°F) when
Type G Parafil is stressed to 33 percent
of its nominal breaking load. It has been
proposed to use Parafil ropes to exter-
nally strengthen concrete bearns." The
characteristics of Parafil make it suit-
able for prestressing concrete (un-
bonded tendons).
United Ropeworks, Montgomery-
ville, PA, U.S.A., makes Phillystran
rope,12 using Kevlar 29 and 49. The
ropes made from Kevlar 49 are more ap-
propriate for reinforcement because of
their higher strength. The aramid fibers
are encased in a polyethylene sheath.
The ropes have been used for pre-
stressed fiberglass pedestrian bridges, 13
50
which have been built with spans up to
15.24 m (50 ft). The research for this ap-
plication investigated ropes with diam-
eters of 9.5 mm (% in.), 12.7 mm e/2 in.),
and 15.9 mm (5.8 in.). Phillystran could
also be used for external strengthening
of concrete beams and for prestressing
concrete.
Rods
AKZO in association with Hollandsche
Beton Groep nv developed Arapree
aramid rod, which is made in the form
of pultrusions of Twaron HM aramid
fiber, made by Aramide Maatschappij,
and an epoxy resin. The inter-fiber
bonding provided by the resin improves
the overall strength in comparison to the
fiber only.
Arapree tendons are available in flat
strips, cross sections ranging from 0 . 5 x
20 mm (0.02 x 0.79 in.) to 5.6 x 20 mm
(0.22 x 0.79 in.), and in round bars, with
2.5 mm, 5 mm, and 7 mm (0.1 in., 0.2
in., and 0.28 in.) diameters. Arapree has
been used for pretensioned prestressed
concrete members. 14 The axial coeffi-
cient of thermal expansion is -2.0 x 10-
6m1m1°K.
Arapree tendons (Fig. 4) were used
for the pretensioning and post-ten-
sioning tendons of the Birdie Bridge, a
46 . 5 m (152 . 5 ft) span stress ribbon
pedestrian bridge in Japan,6 and other
structures such as posts for noise bar-
riers and railway sleepers. Also in
Japan, an 8.32 m (27.3 ft) span pre-
stressed concrete barge was constructed
of concrete box girders pretensioned
with Arapree tendons.
Teijin Limited of Japan make rods
from their aramid fiber, Technora,
PPODTA co-poly-paraphenylenl3, 4-
oxidiphenylene telephthal amide, im-
pregnated with vinyl ester resin in a pul-
trusion method. Sumitomo Construction
Company has used these AFRP rods for
pretensioning and post-tensioning ten-
dons,15 and for flexural reinforcement,
stirrups, and ground anchors. Both
round rods and rods with external spiral
windings are available in diameters on,
4,6, and 8 mm (0.12, 0.16, 0.24, and
0.31 in.). The latter two sizes are the
most practical for construction. A 12.5
mm (0.49 in.) diameter twisted strand
rod and a ribbon rectangular rod are
being developed. The spiral windings
produce a ribbed surface similar to that
of conventional deformed steel bars
(Fig . 5). For the 6 mm (0.24 in.) diam-
eter rod, the spiral winding is achieved
with a 3000 denier (0.0033 oz'/ft) fiber
bundle, anchored with a longitudinal
3000 denier (0.0033 oz./ft) bundle and
a round 1500 denier (0.00165 oz'/ft) se-"
curing bundle. The rods are flexible
enough to be wound on a 1.5 m (4.9 ft)
diameter drum and may be cut to re-
quired lengths with a grinder.
The specified strengths for the dif-
ferent diameter AFRP rods are based on
the anchorage performances. For ex-
ample, the specified strength for a single
6 mm (0.24 in.) rod is 50 kN (11.24 kip)
and 150 kN (33.72 kip) for a three 6 mm
(0.24 in.) rod bundle. In addition to the
mechanical properties shown in Table
1, the coefficient of thermal expansion
is -15 x 1Q-6 1°C, and the relaxation is
between 7 and 14 percent. 16 ,17 Pre-
stressed beams constructed with the
AFRP rods showed elastic behavior
even when subjected to loads close to
ultimate.
It is estimated that the total initial
construction cost. for a structure pre-
stressed with AFRP rods is thirty per-
cent higher than for one with conven-
tional steel tendons. However, in spe-
cial applications in which non-magnetic
and non-electrical conductivity is nec-
essary, such as the elevated guideway
reinforced concrete girders for the mag-
netic levitation light rail system being
proposed in Japan, the additional cost
may be justified. Sumitomo Construc-
tion Company was the first to use the
AFRP rods as prestressing tendons, in
two road bridges built on the site of the
Sumitomo Oyama Research Facilities. 18
The first bridge spans 12.5 m (41 ft) and
consists of pretensioned concrete box
girders. The second bridge spans 25 m
(82 ft) and consists of a single concrete
box girder. Internal and external tendons
were use4 in the second bridge .
Mitsui Construction Company makes
FiBRA-rod (Fig. 6) by braiding multiple
bundles of 600 denier (0.00066 ozlft)
Kevlar 49 fibers and impregnating the
braided fibers with an Epicote 827 and
Teta epoxy resin,19 FiBRA-rod was de-
veloped for both pretensioning and post-
tensioning, and is proposed for flexural
and shear reinforcement,2O-24 It is avail-
able in diameters from 3 mm (0.12 in.)
to 16 mm (0.63 in.), and its semi-hard
nature permits it to be wound onto a 1.5
m (4.9 ft) drum for easier transportation.
Braiding was selected for manufac-
turing FiBRA-rod because the conven-
tional pultrusion process for making
FRP rods could limit the use of small di-
ameter rods for practical applications
and may require additional processing
to improve the bond of smooth surfaced
pultruded rods with concrete. A braided
Concrete International
fiber rod has improved stress distribu-
tion to all fibers in the cross section and
improved the bond with concrete due to
the protrusions and depressions formed
on the surface.25 If necessary, bond can
be further improved by applying a
quartz sand finish to the rods.
FiBRA-rods have one-fifth the mass
of steel. Their strength varies from 70
leN (15.73 kip) for the 8 mm (0.31 in.)
diameter rod to 243 leN (54.63 kip) for
the 16 mm (0.63 in.) diameter rod. Fa-
tigue characteristics have been found to
be equal to or better than steel strand. 23
Relaxation after 100 hours was found to
be two to three times greater than that of
prestressing steel strand, at load levels
of 70, 60, and 50 percent of the tensile
strength. 20 Also, there is no apparent de-
terioration when the rods are placed in
an alkali environment. Production of
braided rods using other fiber types is
under development.
Glass fiber-based
reinforcement
GFRP is the least expensive type ofFRP
reinforcement. Two types of glass
fibers, E-glass and S-glass, are being
made for GFRP. The tensile strength
and modulus of elasticity for E-glass are
2.3 GPa and 74 GPa, respectively, and
for S-glass are 3.9 GPa and 87 GPa.
Most GFRP reinforcement on the
market is proposed for non-prestressed
reinforcement, since GFRP has a very
low transverse shear strength, which
makes it difficult to make prestressing
anchorages for GFRP. Surface treat-
ments such as quartz sand to give a
rough finish and external fiber windings
to produce a ribbed surface have been
applied to GFRP rods to improve their
bond with concrete.
Prestressing tendons
Bayer AG, in association with Strabag
Bau-AG in Germany, makes Polystal
GFRP rod,26 composed of E-type glass
fiber filaments in an unsaturated poly-
ester resin matrix. The bar diameter is
7.5 mm (0.30 in.), with 60,000 loosely
packed fibers occupying 68 percent of
the volume (80 percent by weight). The
bar is covered by a 0.5 mm (0.02 in.)
thick polyamide sheath for chemical
and mechanical protection. 'TYPical pre-
stressing tendons consist of 19 bars
grouped together with a working load
capacity of 600 leN (135 kip). The ca-
bles are usually shipped on large steel
wheels (Fig. 7). Relaxation losses have
been estimated at 3.2 percent after fifty-
seven years for rods prestressed to half
June 1993
Fig. 7 - Handling and placing GFRP Polystal tendons.
of the short-term tensile strength given
in Table 1. The axial coefficient of
thermal expansion is 7 x 1()-6 rnJrnJ°C
(3.85 x 1()-6 in.lin.l°F). Polystal is also
being made now by Mobay Chemical
Company with S-2 glass and epoxy.
An interesting aspect of the Polystal Fig. 8 - Top: E-glass rod. Bottom: S-
rods is that it has been shown in field glass rods.
applications that it is possible to inte-
grate sensors directly into the bar mate-
rial during production. 27
A number of structures have been
built with Polystal rods and tendons.
The pedestrian bridges are the
Liinen'sche Gasse Bridge (1980, Dus-
seldorf, Germany), with a span of 7 m
(23 ft), the Marienfelde Bridge (1988,
Berlin, Germany), having two contin-
uous spans of 27.61 m (90.6 ft) and
22.98 m (75.4 ft), and the Adolf Kiepert
Bridge (1991, Berlin, Germany), with
spans 27.61 m (90.6 ft) and 22.98 m
(75.4 ft). The roadway bridges are U1en- Fig. 9 - Nefmac grid used for tunnel
bergstrasse Bridge (1986, Dusseldorf, lining.
Germany), with continuous spans of
23.1 m (75.8 ft) and 25.6 m (84 ft), the
Schiessbergstrasse Bridge (1991, Lev-
erkusen, Germany), with continuous Others
spans of 16.3 m (53.5 ft), 20.4 m. (67 A number of companies are producing
ft), and 16.3 m (53.5 ft), and the Notsch glass FRP reinforcement for non-pre-
Bridge (1991, Karten, Austria), with stress applications (Table 1, Fig. 8).
continuous spans of 13.0 m (42.7 ft),
18.0 m (59.1 ft), and 13.0 m (42.7 ft). In
addition, an antenna mast was braced Fiber-based grid and
(1980, Munster, Germany) and the grating reinforcement
Mairie d'Ivry Metro Station was reha- Two and three dimensional continuous
bilitated (1989, Paris, France) with grids consist of intersecting continuous
Polystal tendons. Polystal has also been glass, carbon, aramid, or hybrid
tried for ground anchors (1982, Rhein- carbon/glass fibers in a resin matrix are
bach, and 1986, Langenfeld, Germany) made in Japan. They are used for tunnel
and was used for a salt dissolving pit linings and as reinforcement for slabs
(1987, Dormagen, Germany). and panels. Fiberglass gratings, used for
51
 Table 1 - Characteristics of FRP reinforcement
platforms and walkways in industrial
environments, have been proposed as
reinforcement for concrete slabs. Other
grids constructed by mechanically fas-
tening intersecting straight fiber-based
rods have been used for slab and per-
manent formwork reinforcement.
Continuous grids
In cooperation with Shimizu Corpora-
tion, Asahi Glass Matex Company (for-
merly Dainihon Glass Industrial Com-
pany) makes Nefmac grid reinforce-
ment for concrete from continuous
glass, carbon, or aramid fibers, using a
pin-winding process similar to filament
winding, wherein the resin impregnated
fibers are wound to form a grid with in-
tersecting layers. 28 Nefmac is available
as flat sheets, curved sheets, and three
dimensional grids. The volume of fibers
is 50 percent in the free lengths of the
grid and 40 percent at the intersecting
points.
Glass Nefmac uses polyester vinyl-
ester resin to provide alkali resistance to
the glass fiber grids used to reinforce
concrete members. E-glass monofila-
ments and rovings, consisting of 2,300
filaments, are used.
52
High-strength carbon (Torayca 1700,
12,000 tows; Besfight HTA, 12,000
tows; and Pyrofil T-l, 10,000 tows) and
high modulus carbon (Torayca M040,
6,000 tows; Besfight HM-35, 12,000
tows; andPyrofil M-l, 10,000 tows) are
used for the carbon fiber Nefmac.
Torayca is made by Toray Industries,
Besfight is made by Toho Rayon Com-
pany, and Pyrofil is made by Mitsubishi
Rayon Company.
Aramid Nefmac is made using Kevlar
49 with 11,400 denier (0.01254 oz.lft)
roving and Technora HM-50 with T-240
1,500 denier (0.00165 oz.lft).
Hybrid Nefmac is made using carbon
and glass fibers, which result in the
product having a proportional limit and
bi-linear stress-strain behavior, similar
to steel.
The size of Nefmac is specified by
both the area of the intersecting bars and
the interval spacing between the bars.
Cross-sectional areas of the bars are 32
to 3806 mm2 (0.05 to 5.9 in. 2) for glass,
carbon and aramid Nefmac, and 284 to
3806 mm2 (0.44 to 5.9 in.2) for hybrid
Nefmac. Typical interval spacings are
25 mm, 50 mm, and 75 mm (1 in., 2 in.,
and 3 in.).
The maximum load for each type and
size of Nefmac has been determined
from short term tension tests and is
equal to the average of the tests minus
three standard deviations. The max-
imum load of Nefmac is also correlated
to 1.2 times the maximum load of a de-
formed steel bar, having a strength of
500 MPa (72.5 ksi) and the same diam-
eter as the Nefmac bar number. For ex-
ample, a deformed steel bar, with a 10
mm (Va in.) diameter and a strength of
500 MPa (72.5 ksi), would have a ulti-
mate load of 39.25 kN (8.8 kip). There-
fore, a Nefmac bar number 10 would
have an ultimate load of 1.2 times this
value, or 47.1 kN (10.6 kip).
The flexibility of Nefmac makes it
suitable for curved surfaces (Fig. 9). It
has been used to reinforce shotcrete
tunnel linings, concrete floor tiles for
free access floors, and concrete cladding
panels. 29 Research into the use of
Nefmac for slab reinforcement is on-
going.3oA small prestressed slab pedes-
trian bridge has been built at the Asahi
Glass Matex factory site using carbon
Nefmac longitudinally prestressed and
placed at the bottom of the slab, and
non-prestressed Nefmac reinforcement
at the top)!
Concrete International
 Gratings
A number of commercially available
fiberglass gratings have been used to
construct platforms and walkways in in-
dustrial environments. Research into
their use as reinforcement for concrete
slabs is ongoing;32-34 Two types of grat-
ings are Safe-T-Grate, made by Seasafe
Inc., U.S.A., and Duradek, made by
Aligned Fiber Composites Inc., U.S.A.
Their tensile strength is 0.4 GPa (60
ksi), and their modulus of elasticity is
34.5 GPa (5,000 ksi).
Mechanically fastened grids
The use of some of the reinforcement
discussed in this paper for grid rein-
forcement consisting of mechanically
fastened intersecting straight rods has
been investigated. The CFCC by Tokyo
Rope was used in this manner to rein-
force the permanent formwork of the
stress ribbon Birdie Bridge. 6 Research
has been done by the Mitsui Construc-
tion Company on the use of Fibra-rod
grids for slab subjected to dynamic and
impact loads. 35,36
References
I. Tokyo Rope Manufacturing Company Lim-
ited, Product Information on CFCC Ropes, 1991.
2. Fujiwara, M.; Minosaku, K.; Adachi, M.; and
Yamashita, T., "Application of Carbon Fiber Re-
inforced Plastics to Prestressed Concrete
Bridges," UJNR 5th Bridge Workshop, Tsukuba,
1989, pp. 1-16.
3. Zoch, P.; Kimura, H.; Iwasaki, T.; and Heym,
M., "Carbon Fiber Composite Cables - A New
Class of Prestressing Members," Transportation
Research Board, 1991.
4. Mitsubishi Kasei Corporation, Product In-
formation on Dialead, Dialead CFRC, uadline
CFRP, and Earthquake Retrofitting, 1991.
5. Koga, M.; Okano, M.; Kawamoto, Y.; Sakai,
H.; and Yagi, K., "Application of a Tendon Made
of CFRP Rods to a Post-Tensioned Prestressed
Concrete Bridge," Advanced Composite Mate-
rials in Bridges and Structures, Proceedings of
the First International Conference, Sherbrooke,
October 1992, pp. 405-414.
6. Kubota, M.; Yamamoto, T.; Murayama, Y.;
and Takao, T., "Design and Construction of
Stress-Ribbon Bridge Reinforced with New Ma-
terials," International Symposium on Innovations
in the Applications of Precasting and Pre-
stressing, Singapore, November 1990, pp. 31-38.
7. Walton, J.M., and Yeung, Y.C.T., Flexible
Tension Members from Composite Materials,
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M.A. Erkl is an as-
sociate professor in
the Department of
Civil Engineering,
Royal Military Col-
lege of Canada. She
is Editor of the
Canadian Society
for Civil Engineering
Newsletter for Advanced
Materials, and is a member of the Cana-
dian Highway Bridge Design Code
Technical Subcommittee on Advanced
Composite Materials.
ACI Fellow S.H.
Rlzkalla is Asso-
ciate Dean of Engi-
neering, Professor
of Civil Engineering
Department, and
Director of the
Structural Engi-
neering and Con-
struction R&D
Centre, University of Manitoba. He is a
member of ACI Committees 440, Fiber
Reinforced Plastic Reinforcement; and
550, Precast Concrete Structures.
so