Cyclic performance of GFRP-reinforced seawater sea-sand concrete culverts reinforced with synthetic fibers
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Date
2025
Authors
Mashayekhi, A.
Hassanli, R.
Zhuge, Y.
Ma, X.
Chow, C.W.K.
Bazli, M.
Manalo, A.
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Structures, 2025; 72(108262)
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This study investigates the cyclic behaviour of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) reinforced seawater sea-sand (SWSS) concrete culverts with synthetic fibers. Five full-scale culverts with macro-polypropylene (PPL) and micro-polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers (mono and hybrid) were tested under cyclic loading. To assess the influence of concrete and reinforcement types, two additional culverts—steel and GFRP-reinforced freshwater normal-sand (FWNS) concrete without fibers—were also tested. Different behavioural aspect of the culverts was studied, including failure mechanisms, load-deflection response, ultimate capacity, energy dissipation, hysteretic damping, damage parameters, strength degradation ratio, and self-resetting capacity. All tested culverts exhibited punching shear failure at the top slab, characterized by concrete crushing without longitudinal reinforcement rupture. The results indicated that incorporation of discrete fibers enhanced the ultimate shear capacity of GFRP-reinforced SWSS concrete culvert by 12–20 % and reduced peak deflection by 13–28 %. Fibers also improved hysteretic damping, energy dissipation, and damage resistance, particularly at high deflections. Hybrid PPL/PVA fibers exhibited superior performance compared to their mono-fiber counterparts, demonstrating enhanced energy dissipation, and damping at low deflection levels. Steel-reinforced concrete (Steel-RC) culvert exhibited a 17 % lower peak deflection compared to GFRP-reinforced one. The evaluation of standard shear capacity prediction equations demonstrated that AASHTO equations effectively predict the shear capacity of GFRP-reinforced concrete (GFRP-RC) culverts. This study contributes to both enhanced culvert performance and increased sustainability by employing GFRP bars, synthetic fibers, and SWSS concrete.
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Copyright 2025 The Authors. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Access Condition Notes: This is an open access article under the CC BY license